Volvo XC60 Adaptive Cruise Control in City Traffic (local roads)

The adaptive cruise control on the Volvo XC60 now has "queue assist" which stops the vehicle completely but maintains the radar fix on the car ahead. This was designed only for highways so I wanted to test how it performs on local roads.

My route - http://goo.gl/1Xebt

The verdict: It's ok on local roads but it requires occasional adjustment of the speed and following distance to smooth out the ride. It won't anticipate traffic coming to a stop so it brakes later and stronger instead of coasting with light braking (it brakes as poorly as the driver it follows). From a complete stop it sometimes has delayed acceleration like a slow, distracted driver.

It needs fine tuning for use on local roads to anticipate stops and to accelerate more responsively from stops. Hopefully this fix can be done with a software update!

Wish list: An ACC speed setting that adjusts automatically based on the current speed limit shown on the navigation display. Different modes for local traffic and for highway traffic to provide responsive and/or smooth acceleration and braking based on the road's speed limit. The ACC being able to stop at intersections automatically by recognizing intersections using the GPS navigation and using the City Safety camera to recognize red lights and stop signs.

The queue assist feature began with the 2011.5 XC60 (for US models manufactured November 2010 and later).

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Volvo S60 / XC60 adaptive cruise control - highway demo and tutorial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCevarh5j5g

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• volvo
• xc60
• adaptive
• cruise
• control
• local
• road

[kaosgenki]

Why hold a camera/phone while driving? In Australia, where I am, it is A$300 and 3 demerit points... It is too dangerous...

[MarkMck1994]

@kaosgenki Its the same in Scotland...

£60 (A$88) Fine and 3 Penalty Points.

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or if its "failing to have full control of a vehicle"

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its £1,500 (A$2214) 3 Points (and possibly a whole driving disqualification)

Just too dangerous and risky. Your in control of a killing machine! idiots, agree with you %100.

[juxtapos99]

I'm not sure what you're getting at. 0:27 I had to brake myself. I can see everything around me and I'm reacting to everything around me. I use a signal to change lanes 1:35, I know where my next turn is 2:21, etc. Do my responses seem late or slow as if I'm distracted? Perhaps speaking in a car is a £1,500 fine in Scotland but not here.

You understand I'm not driving by looking through my camera view finder, right? I always drive with one hand (I learned on a manual transmission).

[juxtapos99]

@kaosgenki you think holding something in your hand is dangerous? I think the point of safety is to keep your eyes on the road which I am, hence the bad camera angles. I'm just pointing the camera forward and not doing a really good job of it because I am paying attention to my driving.

0:21 "Let's see if this dude pulls out in front of me... nope." My field of view is about 10 times what the camera is showing and just holding the camera forward is not using much brain power.

[juxtapos99]

@kaosgenki I asked that same question before I took the video and afterwards when I looked the results. I plan to do one more vid and for image quality (not safety) I'll have a dashboard mount and another camcorder to show the brake movements. It's weird that the brake actually moves itself while driving.

[ianneub]

Does the queue assist feature work well in stop and go traffic? Do you need to hit the gas and/or a button to get the car to go forward again after coming to a stop? Seems like that would defeat the purpose of having it if that was the case.

[juxtapos99]

@ianneub It's ok.

The braking is a bit strong and could be smoother and anticipate a stop.better. It glides at first, then does hard braking to slow down, and then a few seconds of gentle braking to come to a stop. The harder (later) the car in front of you breaks to stop the harder the ACC will brake.

The acceleration from a stop is a bit gentle and could be quicker.

I need to hit the gas to get the car moving again but I never a need to touch the brake pedal in stop and go traffic.

[juxtapos99]

@Rodolcort yep.

[Rodolcort]

you got the xc60 with all the options except for the r-design package...