Do You Want Your Scout To Have A Hands-Free Driving System?

[eddiet1212]

Do You Want Your Scout To Have A Hands-Free Driving System?

I do NOT want my Scout to drive itself.

Part of owning a hands-on vehicle would be the satisfaction of tactile power over your destiny while enjoying the ride.

If I wanted a robo-car then I could buy a future Rivian.

Reuters
Rivian to launch hands-free driving system in 2025, 'eyes-off' in 2026

Rivian to launch hands-free driving system in 2025, 'eyes-off' in 2026, CEO says

(Reuters) -Electric-vehicle maker Rivian plans to launch its advanced hands-free driver assistance systems in 2025 and its "eyes-off" systems in 2026, CEO RJ Scaringe said on Thursday. An advanced driver assistance system that enables drivers to take their hands off the wheel and eyes off the...

ca.finance.yahoo.com

 

[Desert-Flyer]

No. KISS. First, concentrate on getting a simple, basic vehicle out of the factory that is solid and reliable. Then upgrade/update over the ensuing years and generations.

 

[J Alynn]

No. KISS. First, concentrate on getting a simple, basic vehicle out of the factory that is solid and reliable. Then upgrade/update over the ensuing years and generations.

But the majority of buyers want a considerable amount of upgrades. Most people will cross shop and if it rolls out bare bones the sales momentum will never get going. It will satisfy maybe a 1/4 percent of overall buyers and in turn lose 20% of buyers. It just won’t survive from a business point of view. Launch shouldn’t be $100K either but realistically it will need to be $70-75K to have a mid range package and that’s already pricing a lot of people out but it’s what it will take to establish sales right off the bat

 

[oldgeeksguide]

I remember when Apple promised that touchscreen keyboards would be better than physical blackberry like keyboards. They would know what you were trying to type and it would be much less error prone.

It’s not worked.

I feel the same, though I have to admit that my daughter is able to type quickly witout looking on her touchscreen phone.

 

[R1TVT]

If Scout wants to succeed as a business, they need to provide the necessary safety features, sensors and SW to support a minimally viable product (as J Alynn points out above) - and with the right HW and implementation, it can improve and get better with OTA updates over time. The business won't survive otherwise.

The target market for this vehicle isn't really any different than today's SUV and Truck buyers. They want family hauling capabilities, convenience, room for lots of stuff, performance, innovation and safety. Yes, its true, the Scout will be way overbuilt for the majority of buyers (considering its off-road capabilities & heritage), but better to overbuild than under-build when it comes to driving market share in the most competitive market segment.

 

[olallafur]

A definite no for hands free. I've been in several cars with. None of them are more reliable than a bad driver. Even driver assist is bad. Too many people get too reliant on and stop paying attention and just assume. If the system malfunctions, or doesn't understand the conditions correctly, its an accident waiting to happen, especially during roadwash or fog when you are around white or light gray vehicles.

 

[Scout-Master]

I'd pass on the feature it as it would add more development and cost. Perhaps they can take a shortcut and license the technology from Rivian or Tesla. But it would still take time and money away from bringing these vehicles to market as fast and affordable as possible.

 

[Mousehunter]

It's not THAT important to me. I simply will cancel my reservation unless it is at least has a good to great driver assist options. I have other outdated cars, I don't need to buy another. I am fairly sure whatever they add to their vehicle that differentiates it from the competition will not be enough to overcome a lack of good driver assist options.

Not having it stock should be enough for the people who don't want it. Not having it at all will cost sales including mine.
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I don't expect full true self driving. Even if the tech is there in 3 years, it will not make it through legislation by then.

 

[R1TVT]

Even driver assist is bad. Too many people get too reliant on and stop paying attention and just assume. If the system malfunctions, or doesn't understand the conditions correctly, its an accident waiting to happen, especially during roadwash or fog when you are around white or light gray vehicles.

It sounds like you may have experienced poor or early implementations of Driver Assist functionality. I would say more often than not, distracted human drivers are the accident waiting to happen - much more so than drivers traveling with Driver Assist features turned on. If anything, Driver Assist can make a drive more relaxing and stress free, making drivers LESS tired.

Also - Driver Assist does not allow you to go full hands free and not pay attention. If you do that, it disables itself.

I do agree that using Driver Assist feature in poor weather (if the system even allows you to operate with Driver Assist under those conditions) is dangerous, BUT remember that it is also up to the driver to realize that they are operating a vehicle in bad conditions. At the end of the day, it is their responsibility to drive safely, regardless of what is elected in your settings, and the driver is always responsible for the vehicle.

The sample below is from my R1T Owners Manual for reference:

 

[pwrofgrayskull]

I’m not really interested. I love to drive. I do want to have adaptive cruise control though as that greatly decreases fatigue for me on really long road trips. I might consider some sort of lane keep or other features for long highway runs as well, but am not to the point of exploring any type of full self driving - just not really interested. I’m especially price sensitive as well, so if too many features end up being standard I would quickly be priced right out of ownership.

 

[SwarthyOgre]

For highway driving I absolutely see the appeal. I myself would most likely not use it but having it as a feature that a driver could take advantage of might be a good idea. Any level of control meant for rural or surface roads is a hard pass for me.

 

[Mousehunter]

Rural road might have different definitions to different people. I would not expect it to work on gravel roads, But the vast majority of my driving is on FM roads. Most are pretty decent - full width lanes and some shoulders. Speed limits vary between 60 and 75mph. If you look at Scout's legacy - they are the type of roads that most original Scout owners probably drove on the most. Highway only - well today I drove about 120 miles, maybe 40-50 of that was actually on a State Highway. But it depends on how you define highways. They probably represent well over 90% of the non-residential roads in Texas.

Goggle says we have 13k of State Highways, 3k of Interstate Highways, and at least according to one sight 221k miles of county roads. So closer to 95%

 

[Wings]

If you want a Tesla buy a Tesla....