Hold the steering wheel...

[jgs]

You know, for all the megabytes (gigabytes? terabytes) of angst that have been spilled over the AP steering wheel "nag", I've never once heard if the car looks for steering wheel input when AP is not engaged. Given the logic exists to look for steering wheel interaction anyway, it seems like a no-brainer to apply at least the same level of automated freakout if the car isn't being steered, even if AP's not engaged.

For obvious reasons, I am not keen to test this myself. Has this been discussed before? I didn't turn anything up with a few searches.

 

[AllenWong]

It doesn't nag without AP. I've sat in long traffic jams while just feathering the gas (electricity?) pedal to know this.

To get rid of the nag is simple, too. Just tie a paperweight to the steering wheel. Of course, I don't condone or recommend that type of behavior, but it's possible to get rid of the nag with some ingenuity.

 

[jgs]

It doesn't nag without AP. I've sat in long traffic jams while just feathering the gas (electricity?) pedal to know this.

Thanks for the info. (By the way: "accelerator" works. Or "go-pedal" if you must.

I suppose in principle they could be keeping track of some confidence value and only nag you if it falls too low, the way they appear to do with AP. But in practice it seems rather unlikely and that your experiment confirms what I'd've guessed -- that they don't do this. My further question then is, whether there's any good reason not to? Granted, having the driver clock out (due to a stroke, for example) and stop steering while the car is in motion is a low-probability event, but one with potentially severe consequences, and if already-implemented functionality could be applied in a new way to mitigate it, why not? Especially for a company trying to build cred as safety-obsessive.

(Also granted that existing nag functionality couldn't detect all driver failure modes, e.g. if a driver lost consciousness but still had hands resting on wheel. But if it can detect and mitigate some driver failures, why not do it?)

 

[gearchruncher]

It can't detect when AP is off. It relies on you applying opposing torque to the steering motor and the motor having to work harder. When AP is off there is nothing to detect.

 

[jgs]

It can't detect when AP is off. It relies on you applying opposing torque to the steering motor and the motor having to work harder. When AP is off there is nothing to detect.

Ah, for some reason I had assumed it was steer-by-wire even when AP was off. I see from a 2013 thread that isn't the case though. So, indeed, nothing to see here. Thanks.