Active Lane Keep, Hands Free or Glorified Lane Keep Assist?

[ZenicaNC]

You haven't let the system go long enough with your hands off the wheel. Initially it makes no warning other than the symbol going gray, but ALK and/or PID are still active and keep the car centered. After 30 seconds (guessing, never timed it) all hell brakes lose and the seat belt pretty violently jerks multiple times. Plenty hard enough and frequent enough to wake you up if you had fallen asleep. Found out one day when I missed the symbol turning gray. The car was staying centered just fine. Almost soiled myself when the seat belt went into action. Never understood how they could deactivate ALK with essentially no warning. Turns out there is a pretty serious warning before it shuts off.

I experience this with LKA before I activated the trial of ALK. I was expecting that ALK would have enhanced steering control over LKA, that it could steer longer before admonishing me for releasing the steering wheel.

I have a lengthy trip coming up. I’ll test it and see if it’s worth $1000.

Does anyone know, do purchased FOD upgrades stay with the car if I sell it.

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[gtm]

I experience this with LKA before I activated the trial of ALK. I was expecting that ALK would have enhanced steering control over LKA, that it could steer longer before admonishing me for releasing the steering wheel.

I have a lengthy trip coming up. I’ll test it and see if it’s worth $1000.

Does anyone know, do purchased FOD upgrades stay with the car if I sell it.

I have PID active and LKA switched off. I found LKA to be very annoying. Not sure how much centering/steering control is active in LKA. It is labeled "assist" and I don't think it was designed for "hands off" driving like ALK is. LKA isn't steering for you, it's just a nudge when you wander too far from center. I think you will find ALK will go longer without prompting you to take control but it still takes some driver input every once in a while. With both hands on the wheel a long straight section will almost always nag.

 

[gtm]

I think you are describing the behaviour if you ignore “take over steering” message long enough. I have reached that seatbelt jerking stage because I was curious how it would react.

at the same time the car was quietly heading to the ditch more than once when the ALK thing decided it didn’t see lines anymore. No warning, no nothing…

No visible lines is a problem. I certainly agree that losing the lane lines and not having a more obvious warning is not right. I had a Tesla previously (basic autopilot) that would get confused when the lines disappeared. That has conditioned me to always watch the lane lines. Haven't had the Porsche head for a ditch yet while ALK was supposedly in charge, but that behavior really should generate a pretty significant warning. Not sure why Porsche thought a two stage warning was a good thing.

 

[Hirschaj]

The only annoying feature of it as it quietly stops steering when it loses the lines without any warning that you need to actively take over

Thankfully I have a HUD and it’s easy for me to notice the icon change from green to grey in my peripheral vision. Without the HUD it would be much more concerning for me.

 

[eduardomattos]

I am in the trial period of the ALK and tried using it once. I was on a major interstate and set the ACC to my desired speed. I then lifted my fingers from the steering wheel but kept a light touch to take control if needed. The system seemed to behave very much like LKA in that it made steering adjustments but kept prompting me to take over after a minute or so of the system making the first corrections.

I realize this isn't a Tesla and isn't going to "drive itself" but shouldn't ALK be a bit more autonomous than the LKA? Does it only engage on select highways/freeways like Innodrive?

I subscribed for a few months, but recently cancelled. It falls significantly short of Tesla's basic Autopilot in terms of functionality. If you're simply looking for driving assistance, this might be sufficient. However, if you expect a system that can fully take over control for even brief periods like Tesla's Autopilot, this is not the product for you

 

[ZenicaNC]

I subscribed for a few months, but recently cancelled. It falls significantly short of Tesla's basic Autopilot in terms of functionality. If you're simply looking for driving assistance, this might be sufficient. However, if you expect a system that can fully take over control for even brief periods like Tesla's Autopilot, this is not the product for you

Yes, this is my experience as well. I've only experienced Tesla self driving in a demo car for a short time. The salesperson seemed squeamish about testing it for longer than a few minutes and it really wasn't anywhere near long enough to appreciate it.

The Porsche ALK and LKA systems really seem the same to me.

My experience with LKA active (and prior to my trial of ALK) was that it would keep the car from going too close to the left or right lines. If I took my hands off completely, it would drive as someone intoxicated might, swerving within the lane without crossing over the lines. After a short time, less than a minute it seems like, there would be an indicator prompting me to take over steering.

Given my hands were always on the steering wheel, this system doesn't really benefit me unless I have a moment of distracted driving which is a nonstarter as I make every effort to not drive distracted. It's easy enough to pull over and deal with the distraction.

The LKA system seems to just minimize the lane wandering so instead of appearing to be an intoxicated driver, the car drives more like someone that just can't steer straight. Like those drivers that can't keep a steady accelerator pedal pressure. They are zeros and ones, on and off or acceleration and deacceleration (coasting)... gas on, gas off. Speed up to 65, back off and coast down to 58, then gas on to reach 65 again only to let off again.

In college I dated a girl with a Saleen that drove like that, even when gas was $1 a gallon I cringed when she put in $10 every other day because she got shitty gas mileage due to her right foot.

I tried to activate PID to see if it further improved ALK but Porsche is having an activation issue and so I have to wait and see. If they escalate this ticket and treat it with the same fervor as the last ticket over the failed/delayed ALK activation it will be 45 days before I have any idea.

 

[bluesky]

If you’d searched and read about this feature you would understand that LKA is only meant to prevent lane excursion. When you near the edge lane marker, and sustantial steering input is generated to steer the car immediately away from crossing over that the line in the opposite direction towards the other line. It is never actually meant to attempt to center and hold in the middle of your current lane. Hence, the “ping pong” analogy used so often disparagingly is actually not an insult, it is in fact a very good analogy of exactly how the system works when the distracted driver does not start paying attention and steering the car themselves to maintain lane centering between the painted lines.

 

[Lekfx]

I tried ALK for the first time this Saturday. It was SO annoying and NOT very helpful at all. The car just slowly ricocheted/ping-ponged off the left and right lanes with very abrupt steering corrections, and constantly reminded me to keep my hands on the wheel. I mean: WHAT’S THE POINT??? I turned it off first chance I got. I figured that if I am driving so distractedly that I veer toward the adjacent lane, I am not driving attentively. And I want to drive with attention. I don‘t like the nanny-tech aspect.
Either give me autonomous freeway cruising, including stop and go, or nothing. Our BMW X3e has a warning vibration in the wheel that is a little less annoying. A better solution if you ask me.

 

[ZenicaNC]

If you’d searched and read about this feature you would understand that LKA is only meant to prevent lane excursion. When you near the edge lane marker, and sustantial steering input is generated to steer the car immediately away from crossing over that the line in the opposite direction towards the other line. It is never actually meant to attempt to center and hold in the middle of your current lane. Hence, the “ping pong” analogy used so often disparagingly is actually not an insult, it is in fact a very good analogy of exactly how the system works when the distracted driver does not start paying attention and steering the car themselves to maintain lane centering between the painted lines.

I didn’t do any forum searching because it [LKA] was in the car as part of the build. It’s simple enough to engage. I was posting after having researched the feature my Taycan lacked but could have added, ALK.

 

[Hirschaj]

The car just slowly ricocheted/ping-ponged off the left and right lanes with very abrupt steering

This is not how my car drives on ALK at all. You might want to get that checked out.

That IS how my car behaves when using LKA though.

 

[agurkas]

My view—ALK is only worth it if you sit a lot in traffic on a straight road. The system is garbage otherwise. For a year, I commuted in an XC90 using PilotAssist2, and it works great at 70mph, just like in stop-and-go traffic. Porsche's version I just can't trust at any speed but in stop-and-go traffic. Even on a straight highway stretch, it is like bowling with bumpers. It feels like it is floating between the lanes. Any curve is where I completely don't trust it.
Save your money. Skip it.

 

[d00d]

Say you've left ALK checked and now you're off the highway, there's a disconcerting feeling through the steering wheel that it's still working underneath, so it then needs to be unchecked.
I'm still holding out hope that any .2 improvement makes it into an update.

 

[Hirschaj]

am I the only person with a properly functioning car? Maybe I won the Taycan lottery?

 

[d00d]

Your AI became self aware and decided to be better.

 

[gtm]

am I the only person with a properly functioning car? Maybe I won the Taycan lottery?

Nope. My car is keeping yours company (lottery co-winners?). ALK works very well (have PID, and LKA is always off). It's roughly equal to Tesla's basic autopilot. Stays centered in the lane, handles curves well, responds to the distance to the car in front well. The only glitch is when changing lanes and my car "sees" the gap between the car in front and the car in the left lane and accelerates into that gap. Recovers quickly when it picks up the left hand car in front. Don't use it all that often since the Taycan is better to drive than be driven in, but when I use ALK it works well.

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