A good helper for long-distance self-driving: a list of technology configurations suitable for travel

    The National Day is coming soon. Many people will go back to their hometowns to visit relatives and friends, and some people want to take advantage of the seven-day holiday to go out of town to relax. This will bring new vitality to the automobile market, and the rule of golden September and silver October is still valid in China. For those who are not experienced enough, long-distance self-driving may be a little worrying, but the development of technology always brings convenience to our lives, and the same is true for automobiles. Not only the power, gearbox, and chassis are slowly changing, but the vehicle configuration is also changing with each passing day. Below, we will make an analysis based on some technological configurations used for long-distance self-driving to see which functions are suitable for you and which models on the market have these functions?

1. Adaptive cruise control

Usefulness rating: ★★★★★

Representative models: Mondeo, Volkswagen CC, Volvo S60L, Magotan, Accord, Reiz, Cadillac ATS-L, LaCrosse, etc.

    Glossary: ​​Adaptive cruise control system is an intelligent automatic control system, which is developed on the basis of the long-existing cruise control technology. During the driving process, the distance sensor (radar) installed at the front of the vehicle continuously scans the road in front of the vehicle, and the wheel speed sensor collects the vehicle speed signal. When the distance to the vehicle in front is too small, the ACC control unit can coordinate with the anti-lock braking system and the engine control system to brake the wheels appropriately and reduce the output power of the engine, so that the vehicle always maintains a safe distance from the vehicle in front.

    Everyone knows cruise control. Before using it, you first set a speed, and the vehicle will automatically move forward at this speed. Then, if you want to adjust the speed, you can use the cruise lever or the buttons on the steering wheel to make fine adjustments. In fact, it is very simple. Since the popularization of electronic throttles, it is not difficult to achieve cruise control compared to the previous mechanical cable throttles, so this is definitely not a technological configuration.

    Cruise control is very convenient, but it has great limitations in actual use, because most domestic highways are not always smooth. If there is heavy traffic or frequent overtaking and lane changes, the cruise control function is not very efficient. It is also a bit troublesome. After stopping or pausing the cruise control, you must manually resume the operation if you want to use it again. Of course, in the eyes of many people, this is not a big deal. At most, you can just not use it when the traffic is slow and use it when the traffic is smooth.

    In fact, the biggest drawback of cruise control is that it can easily make people relax. After using it for a long time, if you take your foot off the accelerator and encounter a sudden emergency, it is easy for people to make mistakes and step on the accelerator instead of the brake. Adaptive cruise control can automatically analyze the road surface through the on-board sensor, and can automatically slow down and restore the speed, which is both comfortable and safe. The adaptive cruise control system can flexibly adjust the speed according to the speed you set at the beginning, which is of course a practical high-tech in the car. It's just that the popularity of adaptive cruise control is not high now, but it is more common in most high-end or top-end models of mid-sized cars.

2. Active braking system

Practicality rating: ★★★★☆

Representative models: Volvo V40, Kuga, Mondeo, Magotan, LaCrosse, etc.

    Glossary: ​​The active braking system monitors traffic conditions through the optical radar system on the front windshield, especially the situation within 6 meters in front of the vehicle. When the vehicle in front brakes, stops, or there are other obstacles (including pedestrians), the system will first automatically apply force to the braking system to help the driver shorten the braking distance before taking action; or it can also change the vehicle's driving path by adjusting the steering wheel to avoid obstacles. Of course, if the distance to the obstacle is very close, the system will automatically apply emergency brakes without the driver's operation.

    When talking about active braking systems, we have to mention Volvo City Safety System, which was also developed by Volvo and applied to most of its models. The active braking safety system continuously scans the road conditions ahead through sensors, and then automatically analyzes the distance between the vehicle in front and obstacles, and sends out sound and light alarm information. If the distance is further reduced and the driver does not respond, the system will provide emergency braking. This type of technological configuration is mainly used in low-speed cities, such as speeds below 30km/h, and it will also cause some troubles due to the complex traffic, pedestrians, and electric bicycles in China.

    If it is really not needed, you can turn it off manually. When driving by yourself, when passing by national highways, cities, markets and other places with dense traffic, you can turn on this function if you are not familiar with the road conditions to prevent distraction and sudden situations. It is equivalent to providing an additional active guarantee for safety, so why not do it? However, it is necessary to remind everyone that bad weather such as rain, fog and snow will affect the detection effect of the system, so driving carefully is always the king of safety.

    Definition: Lane change assistance can also be called blind spot monitoring. This device is in the form of a hidden sensor at the rear of the car and a corner light under the A-pillar or other means to remind the driver of vehicles coming from behind. In fact, it is equivalent to adding two radars or cameras with a wider angle and longer distance to the rear of the vehicle, but this radar (camera) does not provide parking warnings, but monitors the vehicles behind.

    Lane-change assistance is very useful in actual driving, not only for novices, but also for frequent drivers. Everyone knows that rearview mirrors have blind spots, which is more useful when overtaking or merging. Of course, this system also requires a speed difference between the two vehicles, otherwise all stationary objects on both sides of the road will be used as warnings, which is meaningless. It is necessary to remind everyone that lane-change assistance cannot completely replace rearview mirrors, because the warning may not be detected or fail, so you still need to pay attention to the rearview mirror when driving.

4. Lane Departure Warning System

Practicality rating: ★★★☆

Representative models: LaCrosse, Mondeo, Cadillac ATS-L, Magotan, etc.

    Definition: Lane departure warning system is a system that assists the driver by providing alarms to reduce traffic accidents caused by lane departure.

    The lane departure warning system consists of an image processing chip, a controller, and a sensor. It mainly scans the road dividing line, then provides it to the on-board computer for judgment, and then uses sound and light to remind the driver to stay on the correct road. This is more practical on the main roads and highways in large and medium-sized cities in China to prevent drivers from deviating from the lane due to lack of concentration.

    The lane departure warning system mainly uses cameras to identify the road dividing line. If the dividing line is very blurred on rural roads, national highways or small and medium-sized cities, this function will not work well. Of course, as long as you develop good driving habits, it will not matter whether there is a lane departure warning system or not.

    Glossary: ​​To solve the problem that the reversing image system cannot fully take into account the surrounding view, engineers developed a panoramic camera. The core of this system is to add multiple cameras to the front and side of the car, so as to obtain real-time images of the surrounding area of ​​the vehicle.

    Panoramic cameras are not high-tech. In fact, they are at least 4 cameras installed on the car body, which are then spliced ​​into 4 images, and can display a direction image separately. Panoramic cameras are very helpful for parking and passing through narrow roads, but this is not high-tech. You can install it yourself, but it is obviously not as beautiful as the original one.

7. Heated rearview mirror

Usefulness rating: ★★★★

Representative models: Lavida, Golf, etc.

    Glossary: ​​The rearview mirror heating function means that when the car is driving in rain, snow, fog and other weather conditions, the rearview mirror can be heated by the heating wire embedded behind the lens to ensure that the lens surface is clear.

    Heated rearview mirrors are widely used. Many compact cars are equipped with them, and even more mid-size cars, so I won't list them one by one. Heated rearview mirrors have limited effect in heavy rain, after all, the speed of evaporating water droplets from heated lenses is relatively slow. However, heated rearview mirrors are more effective for mist film on rearview mirrors formed by large temperature changes when crossing mountainous areas, or rain and fog coverage in light rain. This function does not require us to manually remove rain and fog, and can easily dry the mirror surface to prevent water vapor condensation.

    Glossary: ​​The function of tire pressure monitoring is to automatically monitor the tire pressure in real time while the car is driving, and to alarm for tire leakage and low pressure to ensure driving safety.

    Cars rely on tires to touch the ground, so the importance of tires is self-evident, and tire pressure monitoring is not a high-tech technology at present. Tire pressure monitoring has a positive significance in preventing tire pressure changes caused by excessively high or low tire pressure and sudden impact on the road. Tire pressure monitoring is divided into active and indirect tire pressure monitoring, and we can even install it later.

    If conditions permit, it is a wise choice to purchase a car with direct tire pressure monitoring and install it. This is because direct tire pressure monitoring is not only more accurate than indirect tire pressure monitoring, but most of them can directly check the specific tire pressure. In contrast, indirect tire pressure monitoring based on ABS wheel speed device seems a bit outdated. First, it cannot provide direct tire pressure data. Second, if the tire pressure of two coaxial wheels is too low or too high at the same time, it cannot provide warning function. For example, the tire pressure monitoring equipped on Volkswagen's models is basically indirect tire pressure monitoring.

10. Automatic headlights

Practicality rating: ★★★★☆

Representative models: BYD G5, Sylphy, Levin, Corolla, Excelle, etc.

    Definition: Automatic headlights are headlights with a photosensitive control system installed. The central intelligent control box determines changes in light brightness based on the light sensor, thereby automatically lighting or turning off the headlights.

    If you frequently travel to a fixed location, the automatic headlights are not often used. However, for long-distance self-driving, this function is not very noticeable, but still quite practical. For example, when entering a tunnel or a garage or an environment with poor lighting, it is obvious that the automatic headlights are more convenient. Not only do they turn on and off automatically, but they also have a shorter response time.

    When entering or leaving an unfamiliar environment, we often forget to turn on the lights, which brings certain dangers. Automatic headlights can avoid this situation and warn oncoming vehicles and pedestrians. This is what we call a small function with great benefits. Compared with the automatic wipers developed from the automatic headlight sensor, the automatic headlight is more practical.