Though fully autonomous cars remain decades away, some automakers are already offering advanced driver assistance features, including Lane Change Assist.
Understanding this safety technology can help you decide if it’s suitable for your Milpitas commute. Here is how it works:
Lane Markings
White lines indicate lanes on a roadway that travel in one direction. If they become broken, you can change lanes after signaling and providing it’s safe. Solid white lines mark edges of roadways, stops, crosswalks, and parking spaces.
Yellow lines delineate traffic moving in opposite directions and indicate where passing is prohibited. Please stay to the right of these lines unless turning left at an intersection.
Pavement markings must be painted clearly for lane change assist to work effectively, otherwise the system cannot detect when a car drifts onto or into another lane due to invisible markings or heavily faded lines. Furthermore, snow, mud or heavily faded lines present particular difficulties to this system; to keep your car from engaging in such behavior you can disable its steering intervention by turning on your turn signal; this also gives you control of its steering manually if desired.
Blind Spots
Blind spots are areas in which a vehicle’s driver cannot detect another car, motorbike or pedestrian nearby. Before changing lanes, taking a quick glance behind you may help ensure you don’t cut in to any other drivers who might have their turn signals activated as well as yours.
Manual processes such as this one can be risky because it takes the driver’s eyes away from the road briefly and may not always work. Blind spot monitoring systems are useful tools but do not replace conducting a shoulder check yourself.
There are also blind spot collision warning systems that monitor the area around your car and alert you of any vehicles or other hazards that are coming too quickly while changing lanes. Often, these come bundled in with the lane change assist system – typically using sensors mounted in side repeater mirrors as well as video feed from cameras mounted front and back of your vehicle to provide this data. An unsafe lane change accident lawyer can help.
Road Layouts
Layout of roads has an effectful impact on lane change assist systems. If a highway features wide, straight transitions into curvier roadways, for instance, then it is imperative that lane lines remain clearly visible at all times.
On certain roads, the spacing between lane markings can be reduced in order to inform drivers of impending steep horizontal or vertical curves or other roadway features that require them to reduce speed. These warnings are typically placed prior to any significant feature that requires them to slow down; these additional alerts complement conventional warning signs by supplementing them.
To encourage drivers not to switch lanes when approaching intersections and entrance ramps, a wide solid or normal dotted white lane line may be extended upstream from its theoretical gore for an engineering-judged distance – not so as to extend edge line markings into intersections or major driveways.
Sensors
Some systems utilize stereo cameras, radar sensors or both in tandem to continuously scan for vehicles moving with traffic in your blind zone, as well as evaluate how fast they’re approaching so as to know whether or not they may soon enter it.
Sensor systems can notify you by displaying an icon in your sideview mirrors, emitting a noise or vibrating both your seat and steering wheel (in models equipped with haptic feedback). However, you can opt-out by creating some resistance with your wheel – just as some drivers do manually reject steering nudges using resistance knobs on their steering wheels.
Lane change assist works using paint lane markings, so it cannot be used on roads with faint or faded markings. Furthermore, it won’t function if a vehicle is traveling below its designated speeds or if its sensors become blocked with road debris; additionally, this sensor system is not recommended when driving in conditions such as ice, snow, or rain; Model 3’s rear bumper must remain clear of anything that could interfere with its radar sensors functioning optimally.
