I checked out an XC90 and an S90 on the weekend and am seriously considering one as my next car. A key consideration is how functional the pilot assist is. For several years I have lusted over the potential of autonomous cars and consider myself fairly well informed on what is available now, and where the technology is going.

Volvo seems to be near the front of the pack. It appears to me that the Pilot Assist II is approximately equivalent to what Nissan has in their propilot assist: "autonomous" highway driving (and heavy traffic). You still "need your hand on the wheel", but this is not just simple lane assist; it truly does the steering for you in your lane, under good conditions. It's a notch below Cadillac's Super Cruise because you still need a hand on the wheel.

Is pilot assist as good as it sounds on paper? Do any of you use it constantly in bumper to bumper traffic, or on long trips? I know these systems are still in their early days, but is it a game changer for you?

 

Hi Lux,
I'm very interested as to why there are no responses to your post since February, almost 7 months since you wrote it. Are there so few members of this forum who have Pilot Assist-equipped cars? Do they not use assist? Are they not interested in other users responses? Weird!

I drive a 2018 XC-60.

Do you use pilot assist in tandem with interactive speed control?

I use both all the time and love them. I use them in New York City driving in both Manhattan and the outer boroughs. I go from NYC to Philadelphia on the New Jersey Turnpike without ever touching the pedals once I'm away from traffic lights. In city driving, the only time I touch the pedals is when the car ahead of me passes a traffic light just turning red and I have to stop. Otherwise it stops itself based on the car ahead and I have only to touch the interactive button to move again if we have come to a complete stop.

My only "gulp" times are when a car in the lane beside me moves into my lane at say 50 mph and does so slowly by drifting into my lane. The sensors seem not to respond until they "see" a goodly part of that merging car and allow me to get way too close (well after I want to apply the brake) before applying the brake.

I have some questions to those (if you're there) who know the operation of the system: If I have not turned on interactive,sped control will my car still stop if it comes too close to the one ahead? I have never had the courage to allow the car to get close enough to the car ahead without braking so that autonomous control takes over--and I _have_ allowed it at times to get quite close--so close that I had to apply the brakes to not frighten myself.

There are times on multilane highways at 50 mph or plus in a tight turn marked well by lane markers that, even so, the car drifts across the lane marker and I need to turn the wheel tighter to keep it within the markers. Is that normal? If there were a car in the other lane would it track a tighter turn? If I were not in the middle lane would it track a tighter turn? Obviously, I want to know this for some future occasion that I might be unaware of my own moment of bad driving.

Articles I've read indicate that using the systems actually makes one able to be more aware of one's surroundings because one does not need to place as much attention on what is directly ahead of you--your car _will_ stop (if the system is turned on--will it if not? I don't know yet). I find that I am much more able to keep in mind who is around and behind me. I am also much more rested after a long drive using the systems.

Now, if I could only figure out how to make all the audio possibilities for music and podcasts and FM and AM and Sirus and Apple Car Play work together and produce sound for the input/output combination I _think_ I've set--that will be a miracle!

 

Hi Otto, sorry on the late reply. I am also surprised no other posts about this topic.

I did end up buying an S90 and I've used pilot assist a good deal so I'm familiar with it now.

I agree with you that it works well overall. Sitting in a lane it works great, it brakes nicely, albeit a bit later than I'd like under 30--a higher speeds it's truly capable and maintains following distance superbly--and very smoothly. My gulp moments are when I switch lanes from a car in front to another but the other has a car stopped up ahead (e.g. we are coming up to lights), the car does not seem aware of the new, stopped car, so I need to brake myself.

So to answer your question: yes, the car has auto braking. I have tested this a few times deliberately--without cruise on at all-- and setting its sensitivity to early. If I wait long enough the car will beep at me aggressively and lock the brakes up. Interestingly, when cars cut in front of me from off-coming traffic, e.g. they are going left at a green as I go straight, sometimes it will beep detecting a collision even though the other car has plenty of time to move.

Another nuance: If car in front of me is slowing to turn the system will slow behind him but even though it's evident he's about to be out of the way soon the system isn't aware of that and so waits until he's fully turned before speeding up.

Another nuance: Unlike a human, the system doesn't read far off red lights and anticipate the need to brake, so often it will speed up even though I know we're going to have to brake in a moment (I never expected it not to do this, but in time cars will resolve this).

As for your lane tracking I must say the lane tracking is not amazing with pilot assist. It's really an assist. I thought it was kind of like tesla in that as long as you touch the wheel every 10 seconds you can let it do its thing, but even though that mostly works, sometimes it just acts in ways it ought not to, so I really see the pilot assist as just giving extra help while steering but you still need to fully anticipate turns. To be totally frank I'm not wowed by the pilot assist. I'm sure in a couple of years it will be massively better, but I've seen it veer out of well marked lanes and things.

Overall the system is nice. In heavy traffic on a highway it's remarkably nice to have.

As for alertness around you I'd say mine is much less, that's just being honest. I am far more likely to check my phone.

I really cannot wait until Volvo matures this, adds in some of the stuff that Cadillac Super Cruise has and all that so that we can sit in the seat without any interaction while it drives itself down the highway. We're just a handful of years from that.