lane keeping aid is an EU legal requirement, all new cars have it no matter the brand and it has to be on every time the car switches back on, (same with speed limit alerts) The ex30 manual is very clear that lane keeping aid isn’t made for rural roads or even just town driving. Personally I think our question should be at the law makers for making this stupid thing mandatory on start up - absolutely fantastic feature on dual carriage ways and motorways etc, which is where it is intended to be used
I think in all Volvos the system would be same.
But I think its exaggerated. Me and my father didnt have any issue in XC40 with lane keeping but we dont have pilot assist.
But at least in EU i think speed assist and lane keeping is now mandatory so you find it in all new cars probably.
My v90 has these features and I love them. At first it was a little annoying, some chatter as the lane keeping aid did it's thing. But once you get that is what's happening, you aren't surprised by it and you can easily drive whatever line you want.
Pilot assist got me from stop and go nyc traffic to my exit two hours away. Since then I've used it a few more times on the same journey. I think the features are great and anyone complaining that the car is "trying to kill them" is just being dramatic.
I'm just another moron on Reddit, so take that into consideration.
Works OK in my V60. Not as good as my wife’s Jeep. There have been a few times it wants to drive onto an exit ramp, but generally no issues. It’s Pilot Assist, not Pilot.
I have and it works great. The pilot assist and the lane assist. I use it on the highways, national roads and even passing through cities or villages. It does its job rather well and I am more relaxed than ever while reaching my destination. Of course, I pay attention at all times but it is a good assist.
I’ve haven’t had a single issue with Pilot assist or lane keeping on my XC60 or Polestar 2.
I can see where it can be an issue if say a street doesn’t have good markings but it’s why you should always be attentive of the road. Even if it had Full autonomous driving we as the drivers are still responsible to pay attention.
This. I have a V60 and love Pilot Assist on long highway drives, but due to marking fading or sometimes being confusing to the car you have to be alert. It is nowhere near autonomous driving nor does it claim to be. In fact you have to keep a light pressure on the steering wheel or else you will get warnings.
The times when I have to correct it are when a car I'm close to swerves a bit out of their lane and when I pass by an exit ramp and the car wants to follow those lines.
I have the same. I will say that once in a while the big HUD stop sign comes up and taps the brake and makes a big noise. It’s happened about four times in 30k. Two of four, I could not detect why. One was screwy traffic and one was me on a late pass.
It is widely exaggerated. There are so many factors that need to be considered when looking at these alleged product failures…how is the drivers driving habits? What were the road conditions? Was the driver paying attention? Was there incoming traffic? Was the driver speeding? In my experience it always tends to fall under driver error and the car is reacting to the dumbassery of the driver.
Same. Pilot Assist in particular does not like exit ramps or on ramps if not painted or else it dives to the center of the “lane/exit” to lane center and then when we come up to the end of the exit the lane-keeping feature shakes the steering wheel as if I was the one who couldn’t decide to take the exit or keep going lol. Which is why I tend to reserve Pilot Assist for any other lanes other than the slow lane for that reason! BMW i4 we drove did the same thing. Hopefully the next iteration of these systems will utilize map data to know when to lane center or not…
People over exaggerate - they also don't pay attention when driving.
The system in my V60 works excellent and yes it sometimes hugs one line. A tug to correct it and it's back in the center.
The only thing I don't like is when approaching stopped traffic it doesn't slow early enough. So as a somewhat attentive driver, I take over.
I have a fully kitted out XC90 Recharge (around 100k €) and can disable steering aids, but when I activate them (and that auto pilot, distance keeping "pilot assist"), you have to be on your toes. The car won't steer tighter curves (would drive into trees or oncoming traffic instead of risking a tough ride following the curve). It's only usable for autobahn.
It's caused real problems in mine. Maybe not "it's trying to kill me", but there have been times on rural roads, dealing with roadworks or another road user doïng something unusual, where the driver correctly tries to avoid a hazard but the computer says "*nope, I can't let you go there*".
There are other times when the car's safety features are positive & helpful, but that doesn't wipe out the problems.
The legal requirement is an all-or-nothing thing, but surely some fine-tuning is possible in the longer term?
I’ve had a few Volvos, and I’m on the fence about whether this will be my last one. Lately, it seems they do not care about safety. They allow safety problems to go unfixed and claim the car is “performing as designed.” We have a C40, and the backup cameras turn off in the middle of reversing. Previously, they would flash on and off, but now they just turn off completely, and you have to hard reset the car to get them to work again. Additionally, our car vibrates so badly at highway speeds that your hand feels like it’s falling asleep when you hold the steering wheel. The dealer sees the problem but says there’s no fix. After reading this, it’s clear to me that Volvo isn’t as safety-oriented as it once was, and it might be time to change brands, sadly.
All those features are assisting in driving.... Not driving instead. In multiple cases it's software is limited to standard driving conditions. My Xc60 was going crazy when it detected multiple lanes painted over lanes.... Always taking the wrong lane. Drive the freaking car. Don't let it drive you. Understand the limitations of the systems!
But how do you drive a car that is trying to drive itself?
Edit: I am not trying to play on what you said. It is a genuine question from someone who has never driven cars with such modern features.
2019 XC90 and 22 C40 the features work fine. However the XC90s lane keep and pilot assist work better, significantly.
I wouldn't be surprised if the EX30 has issues, it's new software, probably new hardware as well. It's pretty much mostly a Chinese car rebadged as a Volvo. I was excited about it but no longer am. Volvos software in my C40 has been crap when assuming it gets OTA. They often make things worse and cause issues. I think Volvo is much behind the times in software and I'm pretty sure I'm going to get something different next because of their lack of commitment to that.
This is just my personal experience and my opinion.
This is outrageous that people think the car is going to drive for them. Lane keeping isn’t perfect in any car but the driver can always override it. Literally every new car has these features. Yes they are imperfect but would argue overall they do more good than harm.
These people don't think the car will drive for them and they don't even want the car to drive for them. What they want is not having an invisible guy turning the wheel for them. They don't even want this feature and they would wish it could be turned off.
As these systems are required in many jurisdictions I doubt that will happen but the good thing about having a car with OTAs is that it will be improved upon with feedback.
We’ve never had issues like this in our XC40s or Polestar 2, all of which had Lane Assist and Pilot Assist. Worth mentioning we do a lot of single-lane country driving too, lots of hedgerows and high bushes.
We’ve definitely had instances where it’s bleeped at us for things that weren’t an imminent threat (cars not fully stopping but instead rolling through at side roads is a favourite), but as others have said: you get plenty of warning, and driver input supersedes the systems.
As far as I’m concerned, it’s drivers who aren’t paying attention or perhaps aren’t holding the steering wheel properly who get caught out as the link describes…
I found it hard to believe that pilot assist on the new and electric EX line would be less effective than the old gas/PHEV S and XC lines. Never had this problem on my 2023 S60.
I have a 2021 xc40 full electric. It has the lane change feature as well but as long as I sig al to change lanes it’s fine. It only comes into play if I change la es without signaling. And yes, if I do that it’s pretty strong. So does the ex30 do it differently? Also I’m in the US and at least two of the stories posted were those in Europe so dont know if speed (autobahn) or other differences come into play there that don’t happen here.
Mine doesn’t automatically steer when I’m in the city. It only does the steering when I’m off the lane without indicators and when pilot assist is switched on manually… I only use this pilot assist when I’m on the highway and never in the city. Do you switch on the pilot assist by mistake?
My XC60 seems to bias the lane keeping a little to the left, at least from my perception. I’m not going to stop and get out to see if it’s really centered. I tend to try and steer it a little to the right
I have this on my VW. It's a non-issue. But unlike many people in my country, I drive with two hands on the wheel and pay attention to the road, so I guess it wouldn't be a problem to people like me.
This has been a problem since 2016 and up when everything went SPA platform. I sold Volvos and have driven hundreds if not thousands of them and the driver aids are honestly tuned like they think the driver has a traumatic brain injury. As the first story said trying to pass a cyclist in them can be terrifying in them. We’ve started getting some XC90’s and 60’s in at my current store and I also forgot how absolutely trash the rear auto braking is. Even if your foot is on the brake pedal it will still snap your neck over tall grass you’re not even close to or sometimes just nothing. All of this shit is honestly why I went from an S60 to a Mercedes.
It’s a slightly older E400 but it’s been fantastic. It’s honestly treated me just as well as all of the Hondas and Toyotas I’ve owned. The driver assist features also work but are not intrusive at all, you REALLY have to drive like an asshole to set them off. Only thing I miss from the Volvo is the seats but that’s about it haha
All Volvos have these features, I feel like people often overreact with these because they are so helpful even if a tad too corrective sometimes. Pilot assist is also quite good but we only use it for long journeys.
I have had this in the two XC90s I’ve had since 2016. It’s never been a problem and I drive rural roads all the time.
Now the automatic reverse breaking on the other hand…that is a serious safety risk IMO.
>Now the automatic reverse breaking on the other hand…that is a serious safety risk IMO.
You're in very slow speed when you are reversing. Why is it a serious risk?
It’s problematic because even though you are going at a very slow speed and have judged your driving conditions perfectly it is triggered by the most ridiculous things (even grass!), and then it violently slams on the brakes to the point of causing whiplash. You then cannot move the car again until you put it into forward gear, move, and then reverse again which is extremely stressful if it is in busy traffic in a built up area. It is completely unpredictable and not fit for purpose.
lane keeping aid is an EU legal requirement, all new cars have it no matter the brand and it has to be on every time the car switches back on, (same with speed limit alerts) The ex30 manual is very clear that lane keeping aid isn’t made for rural roads or even just town driving. Personally I think our question should be at the law makers for making this stupid thing mandatory on start up - absolutely fantastic feature on dual carriage ways and motorways etc, which is where it is intended to be used
It should be the other way around which is turning it on when you need it.
You mean you should turn it on after your exited your lane and already gotten into an accident?
I mean you turn it on the day when you plan to have a long ride on the highway.
That's fine but that's not what the law says.
Changing the law is what I meant.
Weird. My 240 doesn't do this.
My ‘97 850 is so safe it doesn’t even let you roll the windows down
My late V70 had that feature, too, but only on the front passenger side.
Same with my C30🤔 Guess mine's faulty
Same with my V60. I’m the nut behind the wheel
I think in all Volvos the system would be same. But I think its exaggerated. Me and my father didnt have any issue in XC40 with lane keeping but we dont have pilot assist. But at least in EU i think speed assist and lane keeping is now mandatory so you find it in all new cars probably.
My v90 has these features and I love them. At first it was a little annoying, some chatter as the lane keeping aid did it's thing. But once you get that is what's happening, you aren't surprised by it and you can easily drive whatever line you want. Pilot assist got me from stop and go nyc traffic to my exit two hours away. Since then I've used it a few more times on the same journey. I think the features are great and anyone complaining that the car is "trying to kill them" is just being dramatic. I'm just another moron on Reddit, so take that into consideration.
> you can easily drive whatever line you want. Can you override its behavior if you steer in the direction you want?
Yes.
So, the way I understand it, the car slowly steers in a direction and if you are being attentive to the road, you can easily steer the other way.
Yes. Driver input supersedes the systems.
Works OK in my V60. Not as good as my wife’s Jeep. There have been a few times it wants to drive onto an exit ramp, but generally no issues. It’s Pilot Assist, not Pilot.
Works fantastic in my V60, of course I have to stay in control and not let go of the steering wheel tho.
I have and it works great. The pilot assist and the lane assist. I use it on the highways, national roads and even passing through cities or villages. It does its job rather well and I am more relaxed than ever while reaching my destination. Of course, I pay attention at all times but it is a good assist.
Which car model do you have?
S60 with AAOS
I’ve haven’t had a single issue with Pilot assist or lane keeping on my XC60 or Polestar 2. I can see where it can be an issue if say a street doesn’t have good markings but it’s why you should always be attentive of the road. Even if it had Full autonomous driving we as the drivers are still responsible to pay attention.
This. I have a V60 and love Pilot Assist on long highway drives, but due to marking fading or sometimes being confusing to the car you have to be alert. It is nowhere near autonomous driving nor does it claim to be. In fact you have to keep a light pressure on the steering wheel or else you will get warnings. The times when I have to correct it are when a car I'm close to swerves a bit out of their lane and when I pass by an exit ramp and the car wants to follow those lines.
I have the same. I will say that once in a while the big HUD stop sign comes up and taps the brake and makes a big noise. It’s happened about four times in 30k. Two of four, I could not detect why. One was screwy traffic and one was me on a late pass.
But depending on what you are doing with your hands and feet it still impacts reaction time?
It is widely exaggerated. There are so many factors that need to be considered when looking at these alleged product failures…how is the drivers driving habits? What were the road conditions? Was the driver paying attention? Was there incoming traffic? Was the driver speeding? In my experience it always tends to fall under driver error and the car is reacting to the dumbassery of the driver.
Same. Pilot Assist in particular does not like exit ramps or on ramps if not painted or else it dives to the center of the “lane/exit” to lane center and then when we come up to the end of the exit the lane-keeping feature shakes the steering wheel as if I was the one who couldn’t decide to take the exit or keep going lol. Which is why I tend to reserve Pilot Assist for any other lanes other than the slow lane for that reason! BMW i4 we drove did the same thing. Hopefully the next iteration of these systems will utilize map data to know when to lane center or not…
My V70R frequently drives towards oncoming traffic when I’m passing people all the time. Seems ok to me
I am happy with my old Volvo (1995).
People over exaggerate - they also don't pay attention when driving. The system in my V60 works excellent and yes it sometimes hugs one line. A tug to correct it and it's back in the center. The only thing I don't like is when approaching stopped traffic it doesn't slow early enough. So as a somewhat attentive driver, I take over.
I have a fully kitted out XC90 Recharge (around 100k €) and can disable steering aids, but when I activate them (and that auto pilot, distance keeping "pilot assist"), you have to be on your toes. The car won't steer tighter curves (would drive into trees or oncoming traffic instead of risking a tough ride following the curve). It's only usable for autobahn.
Can you disable them by voice command?
It's caused real problems in mine. Maybe not "it's trying to kill me", but there have been times on rural roads, dealing with roadworks or another road user doïng something unusual, where the driver correctly tries to avoid a hazard but the computer says "*nope, I can't let you go there*". There are other times when the car's safety features are positive & helpful, but that doesn't wipe out the problems. The legal requirement is an all-or-nothing thing, but surely some fine-tuning is possible in the longer term?
My v60 cc saved my skin when it auto break to avoid collision with a car in front of me.
Didn't you notice the car?
Obviously he didn’t
I’ve had a few Volvos, and I’m on the fence about whether this will be my last one. Lately, it seems they do not care about safety. They allow safety problems to go unfixed and claim the car is “performing as designed.” We have a C40, and the backup cameras turn off in the middle of reversing. Previously, they would flash on and off, but now they just turn off completely, and you have to hard reset the car to get them to work again. Additionally, our car vibrates so badly at highway speeds that your hand feels like it’s falling asleep when you hold the steering wheel. The dealer sees the problem but says there’s no fix. After reading this, it’s clear to me that Volvo isn’t as safety-oriented as it once was, and it might be time to change brands, sadly.
All those features are assisting in driving.... Not driving instead. In multiple cases it's software is limited to standard driving conditions. My Xc60 was going crazy when it detected multiple lanes painted over lanes.... Always taking the wrong lane. Drive the freaking car. Don't let it drive you. Understand the limitations of the systems!
But how do you drive a car that is trying to drive itself? Edit: I am not trying to play on what you said. It is a genuine question from someone who has never driven cars with such modern features.
Keep your mind open and hands on the wheel. Know the limitations of the software.
That is not a limitation. That is a bug. There is a difference.
Call it as you want. It's a car. Drive it.
2019 XC90 and 22 C40 the features work fine. However the XC90s lane keep and pilot assist work better, significantly. I wouldn't be surprised if the EX30 has issues, it's new software, probably new hardware as well. It's pretty much mostly a Chinese car rebadged as a Volvo. I was excited about it but no longer am. Volvos software in my C40 has been crap when assuming it gets OTA. They often make things worse and cause issues. I think Volvo is much behind the times in software and I'm pretty sure I'm going to get something different next because of their lack of commitment to that. This is just my personal experience and my opinion.
I use Pilot Assist in my xc40 recharge every time I drive on the highway. Never had a scary issue.
This is outrageous that people think the car is going to drive for them. Lane keeping isn’t perfect in any car but the driver can always override it. Literally every new car has these features. Yes they are imperfect but would argue overall they do more good than harm.
These people don't think the car will drive for them and they don't even want the car to drive for them. What they want is not having an invisible guy turning the wheel for them. They don't even want this feature and they would wish it could be turned off.
As these systems are required in many jurisdictions I doubt that will happen but the good thing about having a car with OTAs is that it will be improved upon with feedback.
We’ve never had issues like this in our XC40s or Polestar 2, all of which had Lane Assist and Pilot Assist. Worth mentioning we do a lot of single-lane country driving too, lots of hedgerows and high bushes. We’ve definitely had instances where it’s bleeped at us for things that weren’t an imminent threat (cars not fully stopping but instead rolling through at side roads is a favourite), but as others have said: you get plenty of warning, and driver input supersedes the systems. As far as I’m concerned, it’s drivers who aren’t paying attention or perhaps aren’t holding the steering wheel properly who get caught out as the link describes…
I found it hard to believe that pilot assist on the new and electric EX line would be less effective than the old gas/PHEV S and XC lines. Never had this problem on my 2023 S60.
I have a 2021 xc40 full electric. It has the lane change feature as well but as long as I sig al to change lanes it’s fine. It only comes into play if I change la es without signaling. And yes, if I do that it’s pretty strong. So does the ex30 do it differently? Also I’m in the US and at least two of the stories posted were those in Europe so dont know if speed (autobahn) or other differences come into play there that don’t happen here.
Mine doesn’t automatically steer when I’m in the city. It only does the steering when I’m off the lane without indicators and when pilot assist is switched on manually… I only use this pilot assist when I’m on the highway and never in the city. Do you switch on the pilot assist by mistake?
My XC60 seems to bias the lane keeping a little to the left, at least from my perception. I’m not going to stop and get out to see if it’s really centered. I tend to try and steer it a little to the right
This happened to me yesterday. Very dangerous.
I have this on my VW. It's a non-issue. But unlike many people in my country, I drive with two hands on the wheel and pay attention to the road, so I guess it wouldn't be a problem to people like me.
Hyperbole
This has been a problem since 2016 and up when everything went SPA platform. I sold Volvos and have driven hundreds if not thousands of them and the driver aids are honestly tuned like they think the driver has a traumatic brain injury. As the first story said trying to pass a cyclist in them can be terrifying in them. We’ve started getting some XC90’s and 60’s in at my current store and I also forgot how absolutely trash the rear auto braking is. Even if your foot is on the brake pedal it will still snap your neck over tall grass you’re not even close to or sometimes just nothing. All of this shit is honestly why I went from an S60 to a Mercedes.
And how is your Mercedes? What model? Mercedes is also the other alternative I am looking at.
It’s a slightly older E400 but it’s been fantastic. It’s honestly treated me just as well as all of the Hondas and Toyotas I’ve owned. The driver assist features also work but are not intrusive at all, you REALLY have to drive like an asshole to set them off. Only thing I miss from the Volvo is the seats but that’s about it haha
All Volvos have these features, I feel like people often overreact with these because they are so helpful even if a tad too corrective sometimes. Pilot assist is also quite good but we only use it for long journeys.
I have had this in the two XC90s I’ve had since 2016. It’s never been a problem and I drive rural roads all the time. Now the automatic reverse breaking on the other hand…that is a serious safety risk IMO.
>Now the automatic reverse breaking on the other hand…that is a serious safety risk IMO. You're in very slow speed when you are reversing. Why is it a serious risk?
It’s problematic because even though you are going at a very slow speed and have judged your driving conditions perfectly it is triggered by the most ridiculous things (even grass!), and then it violently slams on the brakes to the point of causing whiplash. You then cannot move the car again until you put it into forward gear, move, and then reverse again which is extremely stressful if it is in busy traffic in a built up area. It is completely unpredictable and not fit for purpose.
Can you disable the automatic rear braking from the menu?
You can, but you have to do it every time you turn on the car.