[afarah1]

Driving a rental car in Germany almost makes me cheer for the ongoing bankruptcy of their auto industry. It really needs a full reset at this point. Sad thing is EU law mandates for a modem in the car as well as intrusive driving aids that actually make driving less safe by constantly driving your attention away from the road[1]. So there is no hope to get a minimally decent car in Europe in the near future, unless a wider reset also happens at the political and social level.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-S76WEl25k

[Matumio]

I recently saw a reportage about emergency call-takers. As you watch them work you'll notice they get an automatic call from the crashed car long before any human calls them, presumably from that modem.

I'm not arguing that the modem should be mandatory, or that you shouldn't be able to control what it does. But forcing car vendors who want to built in a modem to make this modem do an automatic emergency call by default, that seems quite sensible. Even more sensible would be if the modem did nothing unless you allow it, except when it detects that crash, but... profits.

[crote]

This is already sorta-kinda the case, and it is leading to a lot of issues right now.

The eCall functionality isn't exactly trivial, and due to its safety use there are probably some rather strict regulations around it. In practice this has led to many car manufacturers opting to use dedicated off-the-shelf modules for them, which are completely separate from all the connected infotainment stuff.

However, early modules were built around 2G/3G cellular technology, and cars with those were still sold well into 2025. Not a huge surprise, because its application doesn't require 4G/5G data speeds. Buuuut many countries are now actively retiring their 2G/3G networks, leaving those cars unable to place emergency calls, and with a functioning eCall module often being legally required it would mean some 2-year-old cars would no longer be road legal...

[LtWorf]

They can issue a recall and replace the module?

[techpression]

Whoever came up with the idea that the car should beep loudly even close to the speed limit has clearly never driven a car. The best way to silence it is to constantly be over the speed limit or well below.

[iroddis]

Probably made worse by the fact that _every_ VW brand car I’ve driven has read about 10% high on the speedometer. I think I’m going 100 kph, but timing using the km markers on the highway show I’m going about 90.

When I talked to the dealers, they said that the speedometers only have to be accurate +/- 10% according to the SAE specifications.

After DieselGate I assumed that the high reading was to game the fuel consumption game.

Never again, VW auto group…

[martinpw]

> When I talked to the dealers, they said that the speedometers only have to be accurate +/- 10% according to the SAE specifications.

I believe the requirement is only one way - they can read high by a certain % but they cannot read low. Which makes sense. But that means in reality they will usually read a little high.

[gene91]

Wow TIL. I have observed that my rental cars in Europe all have faulty speedometer. Multiple brands, multiple countries. So this is why.

[storus]

Just use the speed reported by your GPS. Most navigation apps show the GPS-based speed.

[cuu508]

A little nice thing the cars could do is automatically calibrate the speedometer from GPS when on a long stretch of a road. You would get the accuracy of GPS and the reliability of speedometer even when in city jungle, underground, during slow speed manoeuvres etc.

[jabroni_salad]

I have a GTI and with cruise control on, the speedo and my phone's gps reads exactly the same speed.

[embedding-shape]

I have a Audi A3, speedometer reads ~6km/h too high compared to GPS and various "speed-showing signs" I've driven past.

[mnw21cam]

My 18 year old A3 reads about 1mph higher than the true speed at motorway speeds. It's pretty spot-on, which is very unusual.

[embedding-shape]

Ah, mine is quite precisely 10 years younger, and also European if that matters, sounds like yours might be Mexican if it's in the US unless I'm mistaken. I guess there is some tuning process at the end of fabrication/production, maybe just "wild luck" either way.

[martinpw]

Was in an Uber in Korea recently traveling from the airport and the car literally beeped every 30 seconds for the entirety of the one hour drive with what presumably was a speed limit warning - a beep AND a verbal message. Seemed to be only marginally over the limit. Drove me insane. I don't know how the driver dealt with it - he must experience it all day every day.

I guess you just filter it out after a while but it definitely makes me think I need to do some research before getting a new car any time soon.

[martin_a]

Well, just don't drive fast than the speed limit and nothing will beep at you. Simple as that.

Positive side effect: No expensive photos will be taken, too.

[techpression]

Yes, let’s make people focus less on the road and instead worrying about 1km/h speeding. And where I live expensive photos are only taken way way later than the car starts beeping. It’s the real life equivalent of the cookie banner.

[martin_a]

Each km/h over the speed limit can decide between coming to a stop at the right moment or killing somebody. Don't try to put it into the wrong perspective. The beeping is fine.

[techpression]

No, good driving, which includes focusing does that. People hit other people in the parking lot. There’s a reason some countries have significant higher death counts in traffic and no amount of beeping will change that.

[lnsru]

This thing makes me crazy. But I can somehow ignore my Skoda’s whining. The other car was bought months before this regulation happened and I will keep it as long as I can.

[skrebbel]

Wait what brand does that? I need to know what car to not buy.

[tonyedgecombe]

Every new car sold in the EU. Most make it easy to turn off but it does default to on when you start the car.

[skrebbel]

That’s terrible. Means I better drive my old Ford long enough for them to fix that ridiculous regulation.

[tonyedgecombe]

I don't see them fixing it, in fact I wouldn't be surprised if they doubled down and restricted the cars speed according to the local limits.

[LtWorf]

Sometimes the camera will pick up speed limit signs that only apply for the exit lane or just an adjacent road. If cars were to suddenly break based on those it would be quite dangerous.

There's a precise spot where the camera picks up a speed sign, every single time. There is no speed sign at all there. It must be some AI hallucination.

[fodkodrasz]

Recently I rented Cupra for a week, its assistants were non intrusive, and helpful. It was a pleasant surprise. Now don't get me started on Toyota or Hyundai assitants... BTW the video you linked features a Toyota.

[Grollicus]

Our Mercedes:

- beeps about the speed limit, especially if it misses a sign. For example every time starting on a parking lot it keeps the 5 kph even after multiple turns

- warns about leaving the lane, including trying to stay on the lane by slightly couter steering while ignoring yellow construction lines

- Sometimes when moving off from a standstill in a queue, it triggers all "careful you're about to crash into something"-warnings. I suspect it's detecting exhaust gasses from a car in front?

- You must not, ever, touch the turn signal to announce your will switch lanes soon, while there is still a car next to you. You'll get a loud, obnoxious warning tone. This one is especially annoing as it makes sleeping as a passenger on the autobahn basically impossible.

[gib444]

> ... it makes sleeping as a passenger on the autobahn basically impossible.

Which people often do when sharing the driving on long drives. So, another case of it making driving more dangerous, if the spare driver can not rest properly.

[BLKNSLVR]

My 2024-model Chinese EV allows for volume to be turned down for various things - and these volume settings are kept across 'reboots'. It makes the occasional 'bing' or 'bong' that I need to look at the screen to work out why (which is probably a 'new' safety issue caused by 'safety' settings), but it's nowhere near loud enough to awaken a sleeping passenger.

My sister-in-law has to reconfigure all of the cars safety settings every time she turns the car on as they reset to their seemingly maximal defaults upon boot.

[gib444]

> constantly driving your attention away from the road

Absolutely agree! After a few minutes you realise you forgot to disable one of the 'features' and then get distracted trying to do that.

Lane keep assist is broken and dangerous

Auto high beam assist is broken and dangerous

Auto cruise control is broken and dangerous

Collision detection-avoidance is broken and dangerous (thinks you're going to crash quite often in our narrow, built-up areas in the UK)

Speed sign detection is broken

Hell, even automatic wipers, after all these years, is far from perfect. I feel they should have had to prove themselves with that before being given anything more important

[virgilp]

How are all these "broken and dangerous"? In my car (Volvo) they work rather well. Perhaps sign detection sometimes misses signs, but so do I so I can't fault it. The others though, I rank them all somewhere between "genuinely useful" and "absolutely awesome"

[gib444]

N.B. I didn't write /all/ were "broken and dangerous"

But some personal examples:

- Auto high beam assist saw a car at a side junction, turned off high beam, then turned back on, mimicking a 'flash' to let the car out, which they acted on by pulling out. I had to brake hard to avoid them. I was doing 60 mph

- I was on the motorway and a stranded vehicle was on the hard shoulder and the driver decided to exit from the side closest to my lane. I went to move over slightly to give space and avoid him, and the lane assist pushed me back towards him (there was too much traffic for me to change lanes)

- Driving in built-up areas with lots of parked cars and narrow sections, the collision avoidance has pre-activated with huge beeping warnings that massively distracted me, causing me to actually nearly hit something

These were all different modern (but not high end) vehicles

Auto cruise control doesn't take into account vehicles in other lanes etc. It encourages disengagement in dangerous situations/surroundings. It is by definition dangerous

edit: and speed sign detection is probably the most broken. The constant beeping and flashing. I mean, I don't have to explain that do I? Distraction -> danger.

[virgilp]

Admittedly mine is somewhat high end, and I have seen broken implementations (which is what I think you describe; e.g. for auto high beam assist mine will redirect the beams around isolated cars, won't completely switch to low beams except in heavy /heavier traffic; and when it does, it takes at least several seconds to switch back - which makes it impossible to do the kind of "flash" you describe).

But I'm kinda' surprised by the cruise control, I don't think I ever drove a car, even a rental, where cruise control wasn't at least "genuinely useful". Even the non-automatic one. How does it "not take into account vehicles in other lanes"/ what makes it dangerous?

[mnw21cam]

PSA: Flashing someone is never a signal that you're giving them priority. That is explicitly forbidden in the highway code and dangerous. Flashing someone, like using the horn, only means "I'm here, just in case you didn't see me". If someone flashes you, you should make your own determination whether it is safe to perform a manoeuvre, making no assumptions about anything that the person who flashed you might be seeming to be promising.

[simoncion]

> PSA: Flashing someone is never a signal that you're giving them priority.

Uh. I guess you've not many US highway miles under your belt. If nothing else, it's a very common nighttime signal to let passing truckers know that they've room to get back in the rightmost lane. I can't imagine that the signalling situation is much different in other places that have a large population of generally-decently-skilled drivers.

> If someone flashes you, you should make your own determination whether it is safe to perform a manoeuvre...

Sure. The operator of a vehicle is ultimately the person who's responsible for its safe operation.

Having said that, few drivers are interested in killing their fellow travelers. Especially at night, determining the "time of arrival" of oncoming traffic, or the distance between the end of your bigass trailer and traffic behind you can be quite difficult. If it's customary in your area to use headlight flashing to indicate to traffic ahead of you that it's safe for them to perform whatever maneuver that they may be uncertain about, then it's not unreasonable to assume that the driver that uses that signal isn't attempting to kill you with misinformation.

Automatic high-beam-togglers don't really care about anything, [0] so that's definitely one piece of malfunctioning tech that makes the roads less safe.

[0] ...yet!

[gib444]

Yes...but the "feature" is still broken and dangerous

[frollogaston]

The auto high beam blinds other drivers when it fails to detect them

[virgilp]

So do other drivers that fail to switch to low beams - even my old car was better than me in switching to low beams.

[frollogaston]

Nobody had ever angrily flashed their lights at me until the first time I drove a new car with automatic lights. On one occasion blasted someone 50-100' away, which there's no way I've ever done. There's a long dark road I drive on often where every time there's at least one car I can tell left its brights on too long, and it's blinding.

[virgilp]

Perhaps you're a better-than-average driver? I unfortunately am not, and have had the opposite experience (people flashing me because I forgot to turn off the high beams, or couldn't do it fast enough due to e.g. a corner, or drinking water with that hand, or whatever). In long straight lines it's relatively easy to do it, on windy roads not so much. On the other hand, with current car I don't remember anybody flashing me.

Personally, I just developed a strategy for dealing with too-bright-incoming-lights: just focus on the right edge of the road - that takes my eyes off the lights, and it's where the danger lies anyway. With that, late-commuting vehicles are a lot less of a nuisance than people who just have poorly tuned low beams or simply keep high beams on always. And those problems/ people are unrelated to the "automatic commute" technology - arguably the tech improves things on that front, even in the not-so-great implementations.

[epolanski]

I rented a VW EV (the ID 5) 1 year ago in Germany and had no issues.

The driving aids can be annoying (especially when there are works on highways or similar and you need to drift beyond lines but lane assist wants to keep going in that direction) but they actually saved me from crashing the car in the parking!

I completely did not see a small wall behind the car and the car emergency broke before I made major damage.

[lisper]

That is one of the best, most profound and prescient videos I have ever seen.