Auto-Steer Confusion

[Eny1222]

Hey All,

Hoping someone can clear up some confusion with new Enyaqs Driver-assist features.

Had a test drive of a new Enyaq yesterday and loved the car overall.

Our current Volvo v60 has full Adaptive Cruise control and auto-steer, so as long as the car can pick out the lane markings, all i have to do is keep my hands on the wheel and it'll steer for me on most roads, which makes my long commute so much more pleasant.

The Test drive model we tried had a button that looked like an auto-steer option, but it didn't seem to do anything. although we were able to engage the Adaptive cruise fine and it seemed to have a little "nudge" if i wandered to the edge of the lane.

The Dealer said that Full auto-steer simply isn't available on the car, but reading the forums it used to be as a "Travel Assist"(?) option? this is mentioned in a brochure i've seen but with almost no info.

Can anyone clarify exactly what Pack/Trim might have auto steer please? very confused and not sure the dealer was aware either tbh!

Thanks!

[Goaty]

Hi,

Back in May 2021 when I was choosing, it was called Assisted Drive “Plus”. I don’t know what it’s called on current models though. It was never a full auto-steer function however…. You still have to have your hands on the steering wheel otherwise it’ll start reminding you to keep your hands on the wheel.

[Ken3966]

My car tells me that I am leaving the lane by
Vibrating the wheel. It is not like previous Karoq which could near enough drive itself along a lane.
You need the maxx package with travel assist for this feature apparently.
I understand that all cars now have to have the lane warning feature by law, active on vehicle start, although it can be turned off each time in the menu. Many don’t like it but I don’t mind, useful at times.

[RichR]

Travel Assist is what you're looking for. It will keep you in the centre of the lane in combination with ACC. I used it probably 80% of the time I'm driving. You can take your hands off the wheel for up to a minute before it starts sounding an alarm. You can select between cruise being ACC or TA with the button and scroll wheel on the right of the steering wheel.

It's possible the car you test drove only had normal ACC and not Travel Assist.

[Walter Eagle]

I also moved from Volvo's interpretation of Adaptive Cruise Control and steering assistance to Skoda's interpretation of these functions. It took me quite a while to get used to the differences, but I comparatively quickly decided that I preferred Volvo's implementations.

With Volvo's ACC I found I could use this in many instances where all I really wanted to do was maintain the best possible speed and positioning relative to other traffic, and subject to whatever speed limit I had set. It worked in urban, suburban, rural and motorway traffic. It worked when approaching a stationary queue of traffic at lights and gently and smoothly brought me to a stop, ready to set off again automatically whenever the car ahead had moved sufficiently.
Volvo's auto-steering was not something I ever used regularly. For me it was more of a trick to demonstrate to passengers. Simply a matter of personal preference. I much prefer controlling the vehicle subject to other conditions than just staying inside white lines e.g. avoiding pot-holes, anticipating other traffic etc. But when I did use it, it worked remarkably well - subject to good quality lane markings!

Skoda states quite clearly in the manual, "ACC is intended primarily for use on motorways." I'll vouch for that. Approaching a stationary object on ACC will result in the Enyaq breaking very much later and very much harder that any Volvo driver would expect. I've seen reference elsewhere that it's not actually intended for that environment at all, and it's the car's emergency braking system that kicks in to action to prevent any collision. So that really knocks it out of contention for any close control. On motorway, with many metres distance to play with, it will maintain or adjust that, and if all traffic slows down, it too will slow down, and even come to rest. (It's almost as if it can't compute a change in distance or speed fast enough to cope with the car approaching objects quickly. Provided we all brake together at a few m/s² then no problem. Anything above that and the emergency braking kicks in.)
Skoda's "lane assist", or whatever name it goes by these days, doesn't offer any controlled steering other than the inertia of the vehicle. When you get what it considers too close to a white line or kerb, it nudges the steering wheel and shows an orange indicator. If you're indicating at the time, it does at least take this into account and assumes you're actively intending to cross the line. No nudge. I've driven several times on a road where it follows a coastline with lots of curves, but no problem with visibility ahead. There I would prefer, traffic permitting, to take the straight line through consecutive bends, crossing and driving on the right-hand side for short stretches and then back again. Oh, the Enyaq doesn't like that! It resists me every time. And the control to switch this function off is buried eight levels down in some menu. And it will re-assert itself at every start.

These two items are basically software issues. And yes, I do wish Skoda would have taken a lesson from Volvo in these areas. In other, non-software, aspects I really enjoy the Enyaq and find it at least as good if not better in some areas than my previous Volvos.

[Pea]

Skoda's "lane assist", or whatever name it goes by these days, doesn't offer any controlled steering other than the inertia of the vehicle.

This depends how your Enyaq is equipped.
Simple AAC or simple Lane assist does not offer all function the car can do.

Only if you have "Travel assist" then you have full package and the car can drive itself in most situations.
You only need to touch the steering wheel sometime due to safety reasosns (alarm will remind you), but most of the time the car drives itself nicely.

[RichR]

I tend to use Travel Assist on A-roads and in towns if it's not too busy. It incorporates 'Traffic Jam Assist' which means it'll take care of moving forward in a queue of traffic at a roundabout for example. You just have to remember that it won't stop at the roundabout or reliably steer round it, so you need to press the brake, negotiate the roundabout manually then reengage TA on the other side, or take over steering if it is clear.

To me it all works very well - but there is a learning phase where you have to discover what the car will do and won't do, and gain the confidence that you can of course override the steering and accelerator at any time. I consider it more 'guidance' than automatic driving. Which I guess is why VW group call it 'assist'...

[Pea]

And Enyaq doesn't read traffic lights, it runs through a red light
If there is another car in front of you, it goes behind it and it's fine.

[RichR]

Indeed - it's not self driving, and Skoda never advertise as that. It just takes some of the thought load off the driver especially on long boring motorway journeys so you arrive more relaxed.

[Walter Eagle]

Skoda's "lane assist", or whatever name it goes by these days, doesn't offer any controlled steering other than the inertia of the vehicle.

This depends how your Enyaq is equipped.
Simple AAC or simple Lane assist does not offer all function the car can do.

Only if you have "Travel assist" then you have full package and the car can drive itself in most situations.
You only need to touch the steering wheel sometime due to safety reasosns (alarm will remind you), but most of the time the car drives itself nicely.

Apologies - a combination of various terminologies, grades, functions etc has me flummoxed.
I've no idea what was actually available when I chose my iV60 in Jan '22, nor what name the options went by at that time.
It appears from others' experience and checking my files that I must have chosen "simple" or "basic" or "half-hearted" as the level I wanted!
Idiot.
(Me, that is.)