AutoNetwork
Published on Dec 12, 2017
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2018 Nissan LEAF electric was introduced to invited journalists in San Francisco, CA. and Yountsville, CA 12.7-8.17. The Pro Pilot Assist features were presented by Andy Christensen, Technical Center.
LOL! That bad, huh? Maybe I'll watch sped up in the background.LeftieBiker wrote:Skip the first two minutes. Then consider skipping most of the rest.
Read more: http://autoweek.com/article/car-reviews ... z5JCTTNO2ZLong-Term 2018 Nissan Leaf: Electric Autonomy—Putting Nissan’s Pro Pilot Assist to the Test
The good, the bad and the merely irritating of semi-autonomous driving
The autonomous driving experience has been, up until recently, an expensive technology reserved for luxury cars. Among others, Nissan is working to bring partial autonomous driving to lower-priced machines. Nissan’s ProPilot Assist is part of a technology package that cost just $650 on our long-term Leaf. That’s a ridiculously good deal. The Leaf’s tech package also includes automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection, intelligent lane intervention, an electronic parking brake and high beam assist. ProPilot Assist is also available on the Nissan Rogue as well as Infiniti’s new QX50 crossover.
Okay, so ProPilot is cheap and available (like me when I was single) but is it any good?
... the problem with driving back to LA late in the afternoon is that you’ll hit traffic in just about every city and small town in San Diego, Orange and LA counties, and the drive on this particular day was more grueling than usual. However, ProPilot made the trek tolerable. It was a big relief to let the Nissan manage the brakes and throttle as I crawled through these traffic jams. About halfway through this three-and-a-half-hour slog, I realized that ProPilot is actually smoother at braking in traffic than I am. And battling gridlock is really one of the best uses for this or any other autonomous driving system. When it’s engaged, you’ll never have to worry about a panic stop, when the traffic speed suddenly drops to single digits—or a dead stop.
No doubt, ProPilot has some limitations. It’s certainly not a system that you can set and forget on every freeway while humming along at 70 mph. But then again, none of today’s systems should be relied upon in this way. My findings on this road trip confirmed that that perhaps the best use of the tech is in rush hour commuting. ProPilot made me way more patient during the drive and way less irritated afterwards. I’d call that a big success...
I don't see why not. Some things, like "Summon," will likely never be possible, but others, like steering assist remaining active while passing turn-offs, and operating at speeds below 30MPH, may well be.jdcbomb wrote:Is there a possibility that all vehicles with PP can have software updates to further enhance its capabilities (or just improve them)?
Propilot doesn't work when speed drops below 30 mph? The documentation says it is capable of stop and go.LeftieBiker wrote:... remaining active while passing turn-offs, and operating at speeds below 30MPH, may well be.
Sorry, I meant steering assist, not adaptive cruise control. I'll fix that.DanCar wrote:Propilot doesn't work when speed drops below 30 mph? The documentation says it is capable of stop and go.LeftieBiker wrote:... remaining active while passing turn-offs, and operating at speeds below 30MPH, may well be.
Huh. I'm guessing I never noticed that because I almost never drive in stop and go traffic, and never with PP on. I do know that it won't turn on below 25MPH, and I'm pretty sure it won't activate below 30MPH. Lately I've been having some trouble with it not wanting to turn steering assist on, even with dry roads. Turning the SA off and then back on, while still driving, usually fixes that.In regards to steering assist, I've noticed, if it was active previously, it stays active even if the car slows to almost a stop (way below 30 mph). It will stay on even if crawling in traffic. It then turns off if stopped for more than a couple seconds. It does not appear to reactivate when resuming speed, at least until it reaches past a certain speed and it redetects the lane markings.