Dangerous Auto Driving

[Paul V Smith]

I have had my new MG4 Trophy just over a week and today I had a 235 mile journey. I thought I would test the adaptive cruise control and compared to my old ID.3 which was excellent; however, the MG4 was scary, pushing the car hard across the lane trying to keep it driving in the middle. A few times I really thought I was going to hit the car on the fast lane. I tried switching the sensitivity down to low, but this didn’t seem to change anything. Anyone have any ideas or getting similar experience.

 

[Ian Key]

Is the lane assist system turned on?
If it is I think it might be picking up the lines where they have sealed the the road surface or the polished surface caused by the tyres of cars and lorries and misinterpreting them as a white line.

 

[Dan C]

I have had my new MG4 Trophy just over a week and today I had a 235 mile journey. I thought I would test the adaptive cruise control and compared to my old ID.3 which was excellent; however, the MG4 was scary, pushing the car hard across the lane trying to keep it driving in the middle. A few times I really thought I was going to hit the car on the fast lane. I tried switching the sensitivity down to low, but this didn’t seem to change anything. Anyone have any ideas or getting similar experience.

I’ve had the lane keeping assist switched off ever since new, always hated the feeling of it on any car.

I do love the ACC on our petrol golf and it’s definitely smoother than the MG one ( maybe this is because of the strong regen when the power is eased off )

If you don’t mind me asking how come you got rid of the ID3 ? Was it just worth cashing in as they are worth so much on the second hand market ?

 

[Paul V Smith]

I’ve had the lane keeping assist switched off ever since new, always hated the feeling of it on any car.

I do love the ACC on our petrol golf and it’s definitely smoother than the MG one ( maybe this is because of the strong regen when the power is eased off )

If you don’t mind me asking how come you got rid of the ID3 ? Was it just worth cashing in as they are worth so much on the second hand market ?

I did love my ID.3, but I made £8,881 profit selling it, and decided the MG4 Trophy Long Range was just the ticket.

 

[Paul V Smith]

Is the lane assist system turned on?
If it is I think it might be picking up the lines where they have sealed the the road surface or the polished surface caused by the tyres of cars and lorries and misinterpreting them as a white line.

Yes Lane Assist was on.

 

[Ian Key]

Yes Lane Assist was on.

Lane assist is seperate to cruise control. Try it with it turned off hopefully it will make a difference.

 

[Jester27]

Turn lane keep assist off
Horribly bad at keeping you in the lane.
Also switch to TJA rather than ACC
That does a decent job of driving you within the white lines instead.
The car will pretty much gently adjust and keep you in the middle of the lane

Has an alert that if it thinks youre not holding onto the steering wheel it will tell you.
Holding the wheel gently and a tiny movement every 20 seconds from you will keep the alert off and the car will drive itself in the lane no problem
Why the hell they called it traffic jam assist though I'll never know

 

[tsedge]

I always turn off lane keeping assist in every car. I hate someone else trying to steer! Do use ACC though, that is useful.

 

[Bluesparky]

Turn lane keep assist off
Horribly bad at keeping you in the lane.
Also switch to TJA rather than ACC
That does a decent job of driving you within the white lines instead.
The car will pretty much gently adjust and keep you in the middle of the lane

Has an alert that if it thinks youre not holding onto the steering wheel it will tell you.
Holding the wheel gently and a tiny movement every 20 seconds from you will keep the alert off and the car will drive itself in the lane no problem
Why the hell they called it traffic jam assist though I'll never know

I'm all for scary rides at the fairground, but traffic jam assist beats them all, scares you into thinking its not going to stop and then throws the anchors on hard as hell !!!

 

[Gomev]

Turn lane keep assist off
Horribly bad at keeping you in the lane.
Also switch to TJA rather than ACC
That does a decent job of driving you within the white lines instead.
The car will pretty much gently adjust and keep you in the middle of the lane

Has an alert that if it thinks youre not holding onto the steering wheel it will tell you.
Holding the wheel gently and a tiny movement every 20 seconds from you will keep the alert off and the car will drive itself in the lane no problem
Why the hell they called it traffic jam assist though I'll never know

Guess what TJA is good for - TRAFFIC JAMS, it is not interchangeable with ACC or using MG Pilot (they are different things) at speed. It knows when you are in a traffic jam and moves with the flow...slowly.
The clue is in the name.
You are correct about turning off LKA.

 

[Jester27]

Turn lane keep assist off
Horribly bad at keeping you in the lane.
Also switch to TJA rather than ACC
That does a decent job of driving you within the white lines instead.
The car will pretty much gently adjust and keep you in the middle of the lane

Has an alert that if it thinks youre not holding onto the steering wheel it will tell you.
Holding the wheel gently and a tiny movement every 20 seconds from you will keep the alert off and the car will drive itself in the lane no problem
Why the hell they called it traffic jam assist though I'll never know

Guess what TJA is good for - TRAFFIC JAMS, it is not interchangeable with ACC or using MG Pilot (they are different things) at speed. It knows when you are in a traffic jam and moves with the flow...slowly.
The clue is in the name.
You are correct about turning off LKA.

Whilst I agree with what it should do
Lane keep assist doesn't work like it did in my ZS
TJA does
It steers beautifully on the motorway
The LKA ping pongs you from white line to white line.
TJA is silky smooth I assumed like you that LKA was the right one to use until someone in the Facebook group suggested trying TJA instead and they were right.

It does what LKA should.

Maybe this is another one to add to the ever growing list of MG4 quirks.

 

[Gomev]

Whilst I agree with what it should do
Lane keep assist doesn't work like it did in my ZS
TJA does
It steers beautifully on the motorway
The LKA ping pongs you from white line to white line.
TJA is silky smooth I assumed like you that LKA was the right one to use until someone in the Facebook group suggested trying TJA instead and they were right.
View attachment 11900

It does what LKA should.

Maybe this is another one to add to the ever growing list of MG4 quirks.

LKA is rubbish, turn it off.
ACC does not try to steer.
MG Pilot itself is a suite of programs and when in use uses ACC for speed, LKA (whether switched off or not in the settings) and TJA if not switched off in the settings) plus other safety features

TJA is NOT a replacement for LKA, it is different. It follows the vehicle in front, it doesn't look for lanes.

When Adaptive Cruise Control is turned on, Traffic Jam Assist continuously monitors the speed of the vehicle in the front. If the system detects dense traffic or a traffic jam at speeds below 60 km/h, the driver can activate TJA. The driver’s vehicle will automatically follow the vehicle in front, controlling its acceleration, braking and steering within the same lane.

Maybe have a look here

MG Pilot safety features: how do they work?

MG Pilot covers 12 advanced driver assistance systems.

news.mgmotor.eu

 

[DrAndyPerry]

LKA is rubbish, turn it off.
ACC does not try to steer.
MG Pilot itself is a suite of programs and when in use uses ACC for speed, LKA (whether switched off or not in the settings) and TJA if not switched off in the settings) plus other safety features

TJA is NOT a replacement for LKA, it is different. It follows the vehicle in front, it doesn't look for lanes.

When Adaptive Cruise Control is turned on, Traffic Jam Assist continuously monitors the speed of the vehicle in the front. If the system detects dense traffic or a traffic jam at speeds below 60 km/h, the driver can activate TJA. The driver’s vehicle will automatically follow the vehicle in front, controlling its acceleration, braking and steering within the same lane.

Maybe have a look here

MG Pilot safety features: how do they work?

MG Pilot covers 12 advanced driver assistance systems.

news.mgmotor.eu

In the manual it says that TJA will follow lanes if it can see them and in dense traffic where it can't see lanes it will follow the car in front.

Andy

 

[Jester27]

In the manual it says that TJA will follow lanes if it can see them and in dense traffic where it can't see lanes it will follow the car in front.

Andy

I rest my case.
I know which works best for me
The LKA will never be switched on in my car.
TJA does exactly what my ZS used to do with regard to smooth keeping between the white lines with cruise on

 

[Paul V Smith]

I miss my ID.3 Adaptive Cruise Control, compared to the MG4. I could set ACC in urban or motorway situations and the car would safely drive itself with me simply steering. It would automatically set the speed limit of the road, it would reduce the speed if there were roadworks or motorway reduced speed restrictions. It would say roundabout ahead and slow down, then once off the roundabout would pick up speed. It would always keep a safe distance with the car ahead and stop behind cars at junctions, then automatically start moving once the car ahead moves off. It would say sharp bend ahead and slow down to a sensible safe speed, all this was controlled in ACC and I was simply steering. I did this a lot traveling for 10 miles to work on urban roads and loved the cars safe control. So as much as I love my new MG4 Trophy, I am not best pleased with its automated driving functions compared to the ID.3. Is there new software updates planned?

 

[FiferMG4]

I miss my ID.3 Adaptive Cruise Control, compared to the MG4. I could set ACC in urban or motorway situations and the car would safely drive itself with me simply steering. It would automatically set the speed limit of the road, it would reduce the speed if there were roadworks or motorway reduced speed restrictions. It would say roundabout ahead and slow down, then once off the roundabout would pick up speed. It would always keep a safe distance with the car ahead and stop behind cars at junctions, then automatically start moving once the car ahead moves off. It would say sharp bend ahead and slow down to a sensible safe speed, all this was controlled in ACC and I was simply steering. I did this a lot traveling for 10 miles to work on urban roads and loved the cars safe control. So as much as I love my new MG4 Trophy, I am not best pleased with its automated driving functions compared to the ID.3. Is there new software updates planned?

There are bound to be more software updates planned, as I’ve read of at least one recent update on the forum.

 

[AndyM]

There are bound to be more software updates planned, as I’ve read of at least one recent update on the forum.

I'm not so sure. Yes there will be updates to fix obvious issues but I would expect updates to the way the autopilot stuff works will need road testing. They can't test multiple versions simultaneously in the background on customer cars like a Tesla. The infotainment may see slightly more frequent updates for bug fixes but I'm not expecting any functionality changes.

 

[Kamil]

I'm not so sure. Yes there will be updates to fix obvious issues but I would expect updates to the way the autopilot stuff works will need road testing. They can't test multiple versions simultaneously in the background on customer cars like a Tesla. The infotainment may see slightly more frequent updates for bug fixes but I'm not expecting any functionality changes.

I believe how this work they will calibrate sensors etc their end and then push update via OTA. They don't have to use your car to be able to do it. They have same issue on their batch as it's system driven technology not user driven.

 

[AndyM]

I believe how this work they will calibrate sensors etc their end and then push update via OTA. They don't have to use your car to be able to do it. They have same issue on their batch as it's system driven technology not user driven.

Yes they can test on a car at the factory of course but are there no additional safety tests that will need to be performed on the road with that car and relevant regional authorities to allow the new functionality? I can't imagine that is cheap. I'm not familiar with vehicle testing legislation of course but I can't imagine it is as simple as doing some self verified tests and pushing out to thousands of cars on the road.

 

[DrAndyPerry]

I miss my ID.3 Adaptive Cruise Control, compared to the MG4. I could set ACC in urban or motorway situations and the car would safely drive itself with me simply steering. It would automatically set the speed limit of the road, it would reduce the speed if there were roadworks or motorway reduced speed restrictions. It would say roundabout ahead and slow down, then once off the roundabout would pick up speed. It would always keep a safe distance with the car ahead and stop behind cars at junctions, then automatically start moving once the car ahead moves off. It would say sharp bend ahead and slow down to a sensible safe speed, all this was controlled in ACC and I was simply steering. I did this a lot traveling for 10 miles to work on urban roads and loved the cars safe control. So as much as I love my new MG4 Trophy, I am not best pleased with its automated driving functions compared to the ID.3. Is there new software updates planned?

You are able to do this with the MG4. Just choose the ACC setting, not TJA and it'll do as you suggest. If you've tried this and are not happy how it behaves then let us know. Maybe we can let you know what settings we've had the most luck with.

I've just driven from Milton Keynes to Stoke and it was impeccably behaved in both ACC and TJA modes.

Andy