Lane Assist
The Lane Assist system uses a camera in the front of the car to monitor and detect horizontal markings on the road. If the car starts to leave the selected lane, Lane Assist alerts the driver with a slight counter-steering movement.
Lane Assist is the designation for an assistant that keeps the vehicle within its lane. It is a component of active safety, which aims to prevent unintended lane departure by guiding the vehicle back with targeted steering interventions. This steering intervention can be manually corrected at any time and can be overcome by force applied to the steering wheel. The system does not control the vehicle, and it is not autonomous driving! The driver is always responsible for driving a vehicle equipped with the Lane Assist system.
Lane Assist assistance system is offered as optional equipment by all brands of the VW group: AUDI, Škoda, SEAT, Volkswagen.
Functions of the Lane Assist system:
If the lane-keeping system is enabled, it automatically activates when the speed exceeds 65 km/h. If the speed drops below 60 km/h again or the driver uses the turn signal, the system does not react to lane departure. The Lane Assist system recognizes both solid and dashed lines and is primarily designed for use on highways and higher-class roads with good-quality lane markings. To recognize lane markings, the system uses a camera located behind the windshield in the area of the rearview mirror.
The Lane Assist system has two main modes:
– Both modes can be independently turned on and off via the infotainment system
A/ Lane Departure Prevention mode
When the vehicle approaches the lane marking, the system automatically intervenes in the steering and adjusts the direction of travel away from the lane marking. The magnitude of the automatic intervention force can be adjusted via the infotainment system. The automatic steering intervention can also be overridden at any time.
When changing lanes with the turn signal activated, the system does not react, as the situation is interpreted as the driver’s intention to change lanes. The system also does not react at speeds below 65 km/h.
B/ Adaptive Lane Guidance mode
If the system detects lane markings on both sides, the adaptive guidance mode can keep the vehicle in the selected lane by targeted steering interventions. The lane-keeping assistant monitors the vehicle’s distance from the lane markings on both sides, although the distance on the left and right may be asymmetrical.
For this mode as well, the driver must focus on driving and keep hands on the wheel. If the system detects that the driver does not have hands on the wheel, it will issue a warning after about 10 seconds and deactivate the Lane Assist system, meaning it will stop correcting the trajectory!
Video:
When Lane Assist may not work?
- Unfavorable weather conditions (e.g., fog, heavy rain, dense snowfall…)
- Passing through a curve with a very small radius
- The sensor of the system is blinded by sunlight or another light source
- The sensor does not have a clear view of the road (e.g., small gap between vehicles)
- Illegible road markings
All activities and settings are displayed on the instrument cluster:
Lane Assist infotainment system
1 – the system is activated but not ready to intervene
2 – the system is activated and ready to intervene
3 – the system intervenes – approaching the right lane marking
4 – the system intervenes – adaptive lane guidance
History:
The first experiments with lane-keeping systems were conducted by Mitsubishi as early as 1992. It was not until 2001 that the first real deployment of such a system occurred. This time, the pioneering effort was made by Nissan with the Cima model, sold only in Japan. In 2003, Honda introduced its system called LKAS in the Inspire model, but again, it was only for the Japanese market. The lane-keeping system saw successful deployment with the introduction of the Honda Accord model in 2011 – LKAS. In the following years, other automakers introduced similar systems, each with a different name but essentially the same principle.
Ford, for example, introduced a simpler version of the system that could not automatically correct the direction of travel. The Lane Departure Warning system monitors the situation in front of the vehicle and evaluates the vehicle’s position but only warns the driver of unintentional crossing of lane markings through steering wheel vibrations.
