Minimal Hands Free Driving (Lane Keeping + Adaptive Cruise Control)

[lonewoof]

Lane keeping no, lane centering yes.

I have it installed on my '23 XLT hybrid, it works great. I use a 1 lb ankle weight for my 400 mile highway commutes (about once a month, there and back).

Can go hands free for many miles, if your highway roads are well marked and you stay in center lanes. I would be knowledgeable of where you are driving, since I repeat my route every month I know the roads and that it won't disconnect on me.

You have caught my attention. Do you have a write up or did you follow one from someone else on this forum to detail the steps to do this on a XLT? Our is this the same as installing the ACC and land centering comes as part of it?

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[MikeS1942]

Can both be engaged, lane centering and lane assist, how's that gonna work.

It's one and the same. When you initiate lane assist it keeps you centered.

 

[inline_five]

You have caught my attention. Do you have a write up or did you follow one from someone else on this forum to detail the steps to do this on a XLT? Our is this the same as installing the ACC and land centering comes as part of it?

There's a long thread over in the DIY sub forum on it.

 

[inline_five]

I feel as though the act of driving itself, with one's hand(s) on the steering wheel, is going to provide the highest level of driver's attention. If someone wants to drive hands-free, it's generally because they want their hands available to do something other than driving. That to me seems like someone paying less attention to the process of driving.

I don't disagree. I would however say there is more to operation of a vehicle other than manipulation of the steering wheel and brake.

Personally, I like having hands on my lap ready to take over. It's fatigue reducing both physically and mentally.

I can understand why some people, and those who have never operated any sort of automated vehicle would be hesitant. I can also understand the valid concerns of using it as a crutch to text and drive.

There are various levels of automation present in current day vehicles and sometimes the base level - using your own hands and feet - is the best. Sometimes it's not.

 

[cwstnsko]

Can both be engaged, lane centering and lane assist, how's that gonna work.

Depending on the trim level, your truck will have Lane Keep Assist, which nudges you back if you cross the line, or Lane Centering which continuously hold you in the center of the lane when the cruise control is engaged. I think truck with Lane Centering may do Lane Keep Assist, if cruise control is not engaged.

 

[gbit3000]

Depending on the trim level, your truck will have Lane Keep Assist, which nudges you back if you cross the line, or Lane Centering which continuously hold you in the center of the lane when the cruise control is engaged. I think truck with Lane Centering may do Lane Keep Assist, if cruise control is not engaged.

Thx, I check it out when my Lariat comes in a week I hope.

 

[MikeS1942]

It's one and the same. When you initiate lane assist it keeps you centered.

Now that you mention this, I stand corrected. Lane centering only occurs on my Lariat when cruise is on. Otherwise lane keeping does kind of bounce you away from the lines, and vibrate the steering wheel when you touch the lines.

 

[Aherpa]

With Lane Keeping and Adaptive Cruise Control can I drive “Hands Free” for short stints in my 2025 Maverick Lariat?

No. The Maverick is not a hands frees driving vehicle. It relies on clear lane markers to distinguish a lane. I have seen my Maverick try to follow old ground out lane markers or not see markers at all due to rain, glare, snow or a dirty windshield. Even in the daytime, it will not 'see' the lane if it is too wide.
You will be changing your underwear (or worse) if you drive it thinking it's capable of hands free driving.

I use lane keeping to thread the truck between the edge of the stop sign warning jutter bars, and the road edge buzz bars and that only works because the lane markers are clearly visible.
I figure at least one side of the truck doesn't get rattled to death.

I keep using it because it is interesting to find out what fools it and that happens a lot.

 

[Phimosis]

With Lane Keeping and Adaptive Cruise Control can I drive “Hands Free” for short stints in my 2025 Maverick Lariat?

In a word, yes. I have a 2024 lariat. I did a 1500 mile road trip and used lane-keep for nearly all of it. If I recall correctly it nags you 4 times per minute if you use a light hand on the steering wheel. You have to actively fight the lane keep to prevent it from nagging you, but don’t fight it too much, or it will interpret the manual override as a request to cancel lane keep.

it does a decent job in mild corners as well. It is not able to do 75 through a corner with a “65 mph” marker sign. The real problem with the Maverick lane keep is that it is unpredictable. It is able to navigate certain situations and you’ll be surprised that it was able to do it, which is confidence inspiring, but then 10 minutes later it will get something super simple, completely wrong, and try to kill you.

I have autopilot in my Tesla and it is way more predictable: there’s certain situations you know that it is going to mess up, like driving straight into the evening sun that blinds the cameras, or in a construction zone with forced lane merging, or on a road with lane markers that are only intermittent reflectors and not painted, or lane markers painted black. But on a well marked freeway with no inclement conditions, it will always drive predictably.

Not so in the Maverick. I always keep one hand on the wheel because I don’t trust it. It does do a very good job at reducing driver fatigue. But it is not full self driving.

 

[MikeS1942]

In a word, yes. I have a 2024 lariat. I did a 1500 mile road trip and used lane-keep for nearly all of it. If I recall correctly it nags you 4 times per minute if you use a light hand on the steering wheel. You have to actively fight the lane keep to prevent it from nagging you, but don’t fight it too much, or it will interpret the manual override as a request to cancel lane keep.

it does a decent job in mild corners as well. It is not able to do 75 through a corner with a “65 mph” marker sign. The real problem with the Maverick lane keep is that it is unpredictable. It is able to navigate certain situations and you’ll be surprised that it was able to do it, which is confidence inspiring, but then 10 minutes later it will get something super simple, completely wrong, and try to kill you.

I have autopilot in my Tesla and it is way more predictable: there’s certain situations you know that it is going to mess up, like driving straight into the evening sun that blinds the cameras, or in a construction zone with forced lane merging, or on a road with lane markers that are only intermittent reflectors and not painted, or lane markers painted black. But on a well marked freeway with no inclement conditions, it will always drive predictably.

Not so in the Maverick. I always keep one hand on the wheel because I don’t trust it. It does do a very good job at reducing driver fatigue. But it is not full self driving.

And it never claimed to be self driving.

 

[Phimosis]

Go ahead, hang an ankle weight on the steering wheel then, “Let go Luke, Feel the force flowing in you”
The gene pool needs cleaning out from time to time.

I have a magnetic weight to prevent my Tesla from constantly nagging me. It works fantastic. It doesn't cause the car to operate any differently, other than it stopped nagging me. I have used it for over 140k miles without
Incident.

There are many things in our world that effectively clean the bottom of the gene pool. If you’re smart enough to be using a steering wheel weight, you’ve already cleared that low bar.

 

[Robot-Wrangler]

5lb ankle weight. I'll let y'all figure this out for yourselves.

 

[Blue_Max]

5lb ankle weight. I'll let y'all figure this out for yourselves.

 

[Robot-Wrangler]

LOL!

 

[Daveinva]

IME, the lane centering works wonderfully on open highways at speed in the daytime. For those of us in the D.C. area, that means any of the HOV lanes around here are tailor made for lane centering.

However, I have discovered a not-uncommon situation where it's most definitely NOT useful, and actually quite dangerous:
1. You need to have cruise engaged to engage lane centering.
2. You set the cruise speed (say, 65) and the radar follows the vehicle in front of you at a set distance.
3. You approach a sharper curve where you should be slowing down to safely navigate it. If there was no car in front of you, the lane centering would do that. If the car in front of you slows down to navigate the curve, the radar also slows you down to navigate the curve. So, you slow down to, say, 55 or 45 into the curve.

All of this is good... but it breaks down if that car in front of you that's slowing down for the curve *then changes lanes* during the curve.

At that point, your Mav will accelerate from that 45 or 55 back up to the speed you set your cruise at... right as you're entering a sharper curve.

There are a few places I've learned where this is a likely risk (e.g. northbound HOV on I-395 slows down and sharpens just as you pass the Pentagon to cross into D.C., the cruise+lane centering combo ALWAYS accelerates through a descending-radius curve it should 100% be decelerating through... After it happened about 2-3 times, I now know to disengage cruise before I enter that area, it fools the Ford every time).

Bottom line: Great tool when the road is predictable. Can be scary when it's not. Use responsibly.

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