Is Tesla AP much better than this?

[Darren Donovan]

My neighbor just bought a 2017 Acura MDX. I understand that members here look down on all ICE cars, so my question is not about the drivetrain. Obviously an ICE vehicle is inferior to a BEV the majority of the time. From reading the brief description of the safety features, it does appear rather impressive. I'll need to test drive his MDX to assess just how effective everything is. He drove 250 miles from the dealer to his house, and sent me a few photos of "hands-free" driving. He did say that he had to keep his hands close to the wheel, just in case.

The following is from another website:

Buy a 2017 starting this summer, and every trim line between $44,000 and $58,000 (estimated) gets you adaptive cruise control (ACC) with low-speed follow (LSF), collision mitigation braking system (CMBS) with automatic emergency braking, lane departure warning (LDW), lane keeping assist (LKAS), forward collision warning (FCW), and road departure mitigation (RDM).

 

[calisnow]

The problem with these armchair comparisons is that the devil is in the details - how well features perform. On paper it appears an Infiniti Q50 or 2017 Mercedes E Class has lane keeping on par with Tesla's.

Real world testing however, shows how inferior the competition is at actually staying in lanes on anything other than perfect lines and perfect conditions. The Infiniti Q50 ping pongs back and forth and the Mercedes simply leaves the lanes without bothering to tell you.

As for the Acura MDX - no way to know how well or poorly it performs other than comprehensively testing the features.

Journalists who write quick puff pieces claiming other automakers have technology on par with Tesla are people who haven't driven the cars and actually experienced how poor the competition is vs Tesla.

Five years from now lane keeping may in fact be a commodity item - all automakers' cars will perform as well as any others. But right now Tesla is still in a class of one in real world performance WRT lane keeping and the competition is struggling to catch up.

 

[Saghost]

Quick fishing online didn't come up with any comparisons of a 2017 MDX with Tesla AP. The videos I came up with were mostly 2014 era - and the system they described was much more warning you and gentle nudging than auto steering.

It's rather unlikely that the MDX system is anywhere close to AP, though - no one else in the industry has gotten within shooting distance of it so far.

 

[Darren Donovan]

Good points. I have not had an opportunity to test drive a Tesla equipped with AP, as I live 100 miles away from the nearest Tesla showroom. For sure I'll test drive his MDX in the next couple weeks.

 

[Drivin]

Adding the emergency braking is a good addition.
Not sure what happened in the recent crash where the Tesla driver claims the car accelerated after the initial collision. Braking in that situation would have been preferable.

 

[SomeJoe7777]

I just drove a 400-mile round trip over the weekend, used Tesla AP for about 250 miles of it. (The other 150 miles was on non-divided roads, so I didn't use it there). The latest version is awesome.

I drove one 60 mile stretch between Houston and Huntsville and did not have to disengage AP at all. It maintained itself perfectly centered in the lane continuously with no input from me for nearly an hour. This included spots in the highway with concrete seams, exits, curves, some faded lane markings, light-colored concrete, and other traffic. I only had to answer the "Hold steering wheel" alerts 4-5 times, most of them in curves.

That's the standard you need to compare against any other lane keeping system -- how often does the driver have to intervene. Let us know if the Acura can even come close.

 

[privater]

Journalists who write quick puff pieces claiming other automakers have technology on par with Tesla are people who haven't driven the cars and actually experienced how poor the competition is vs Tesla.

Agree with @calisnow, Many manufacture provides spec sheets and Ads campaigns to demonstrate a certain feature "I also have".
But the reality is comparison to what level?

It's like back to year 2011, all major cellphone makers claim they have touch screen matching iphone's , but the truth is:

Sadly, it's all over again when manufactures talk about their ADAS, and the current result is pretty obvious:
There is a big leap between Tesla's autopilot to others'

Testing (Semi) Autonomous Cars With Tesla, Cadillac, Hyundai, and Mercedes - Motor Trend

Semi-Autonomous Cars Compared! Tesla Model S vs. BMW 750i, Infiniti Q50S, and Mercedes-Benz S65 AMG - Feature

Hands off - autofil.no

The War For Autonomous Driving: 2017 Mercedes-Benz E-Class VS. 2017 Tesla Model S

I can't find Acura's test right now, but I don't have high hopes on it.

 

[AZ Desert Driver]

Got a question for those that have used "Lane Keeping". Seems like the design is to keep car centered between the lane marking. But if the road is beat up, CAN you shift toward the left marking - and not be forced into center?

 

[u00mem9]

Not even close. 17M MDX (and 16M Civic) LKAS system is much less effective, and there is basically no feedback to let you know what the sensors 'see' and interpret. There is a low res icon for left and right lane marker but it is not dynamic like the Tesla. These systems will drift right into oncoming traffic without much of a warning or indication that there is any problem.

Net result is that you have to actively drive the car, and if your attention slips, the car might gently nudge your steering wheel in the right direction. Autopilot basically drives the car, and may need you to take over in some cases.

 

[thimel]

Got a question for those that have used "Lane Keeping". Seems like the design is to keep car centered between the lane marking. But if the road is beat up, CAN you shift toward the left marking - and not be forced into center?

In a Tesla, the driver can either take over or let auto pilot steer where it wants. There is no fine control over where the car is in the lane when AP is in control. One can use the turn signal to tell AP t change lanes.