You have probably heard about what is marketed as “lane keep assist” technology – or something along those lines (each manufacturer comes up with its own trade-name for what is essentially the same thing, kind of like the way all-wheel-drive is marketed under various different names for AWD).
One thing – once accepted – always leads to the next thing and that thing is a “technology” marketed as “curve assist” or “trace assist” or something along those lines.
Like “lane keep assist,” this new elaboration of using electrically (rather than hydraulically) powered steering is designed to exert control over the steering. “Lane keep assist” is marketed as designed to keep the car from wandering out of its travel lane; the presumption being the driver is either too addled or too distracted to do that without “assistance.” Cameras in the car see the painted lines that define the lane the car is in and if the driver allows the car to wander such that a tire touches either painted line on the road, the electrically-powered steering will countersteer the car back into its driving lane.
That’s how it’s marketed.
What the marketeers do not tell the marks is that they will also be “assisted” back into their lane when they are trying to change lanes – i.e., when they are attempting to thread the needle in traffic – if they do not signal each lane change prior to making it. Which makes it hard to change lanes smoothly because the steering is trying to prevent it. Well, then just signal before you change lanes! But everyone knows that if you do so, it can make it harder to change lanes because this alerts the cars you’re trying to pass to your intentions and it is not uncommon for some of them to try to prevent you from passing, as by speeding up to close the gap.
Regardless, it’s robotic – mindless – to always signal. Because there are times when it is not necessary. As when there are no other cars near you.
Heaven forbid drivers exercise judgment.
Which brings us back to “curve assist.” This “technology” also uses the electrically-assisted power steering that pretty much all new vehicles have now. They have it for two reasons; the first being that it “saves” a fractional amount of gas by eliminating what would otherwise be the load on the engine of a belt-driven hydraulic power steering pump and the second being because electrically-assisted power steering can be controlled by electronics.
Put another way, electrically assisted steering gives the driver the illusion of control over the car’s steering – just the same as electrically controlled throttle (drive-by-wire) gives the driver the illusion he is in control of acceleration. Just the same as electrically-controlled gear-selectors give the driver the illusion he has control over whether the transmission is in Park or Drive or Reverse.
Electric (non-hydraulic) brakes are coming, too. And electrically controlled hydraulic brakes – that brake when the car’s computer decides it’s necessary – are already here. The ultimate goal being to exert complete control over the vehicle and thereby render the “driver” something like a cigar store wooden Indian.
Not the real thing, in other words.
But first, it is necessary to get people used to the idea of being effigies of drivers and this is accomplished by – piecemeal – taking away control over the operation of the vehicle. To instill in them passivity toward driving by taking-away responsibility for driving by gradually taking control over such basic driving parameters as steering (and braking) the car. So that – eventually – they will welcome the so-called “autonomous” car that is as independent as each of the United States (singular).
Just a little bit at a time and always marketed as “assistance” – but pushed on people as something they cannot opt out of. This latter is very telling as regards the ultimate goal. If it were merely about “assisting” drivers who needed it, then these “technologies” would be available optionally. They are not. They are standard equipment in every new vehicle – as if there were demand for them. 
In fact it is largely the opposite – at least insofar as what I hear from people and I hear a lot because I’m a guy who writes publicly about cars and is on the radio a lot, too. Not once have I received a positive comment about “assistance technology.” Every person who has emailed me or left a comment appended to one of my articles or called in to a radio show has told me they can’t stand “assistance technology.” Yet they are – effectively – made to buy it if they choose to buy a new vehicle.
Ponder the why about that.
. . .
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I rented a new car…I think it was a Hyundai last year and it scared the crap out of me as it was unexpected. This was after 12 hours of airplane travel overnight with almost no sleep then getting that crap happening on foreign roads.
I cant help but think how it would get someone in trouble in the Sierra Nevada as some of those highways have no lines from tire chains in winter beating them to non-existence.
If someone’s driving skills are so poor that they cannot stay in their lane then they have flipping business driving a car or having a drivers license
“Electric (non-hydraulic) brakes are coming, too.”
Yeah, because electronic parking brakes weren’t dumb enough. Now we get to careen into a wall every time the computer shits itself! Or, the brakes will lock up with a fully loaded semi behind you. Can’t leave any stones un-turned on the quest for complete automation!
Hi Blue:
Well as Jim H. reported, they are coming out with steer by wire. Something tells me that this sort of approach will not survive the maintenance or lack thereof that the average driver does to their vehicles.
https://www.roadandtrack.com/news/a43350167/toyota-steer-by-wire/
All that said it is getting even more obvious that the car companies don’t want to build a car that is simple, strong, works well and lasts.
Well, this will be the end of BMW.
Use turn signals? Pfft! Might as well drive a Chevy
Being second guessed by a computer……..
This is the same industry that hasn’t made a WEB browser that works right over 30 years. I am not putting my life in the “hands” of very unreliable electronics.
Hey they will certainly hire the very best H1B Indians $7/hour can buy.
Wait, you’re saying turn indicators shouldn’t be used?!?
Your views here are as unsound as you claim the technology is.
Bondurant graduate here and that said, what we learned was that one should be an active driver … translating that statement, is that you should be moving your head and eyes constantly so as to maintain your full field of vision.
The story: My wife decided that she needed to have a new Hyundai Tucson, you know, the vehicle that has ALL the bells and whistles, well, when we moved 1500 miles away, I was selected to drive that car to our new home, BIG MISTAKE … it was a nightmare to drive especially in traffic … the biggest problem is that I was doing as I should and being an active driver. The Tucson thought I was falling asleep and not just occasionally, CONSTANTLY and there was limited capability of turning that stuff off … that ordeal was 2 years ago and I will not drive that thing again … EVER !
Seems like this is an opportunity for a car maker to make cars that offer the option of making these technical features controllable: Turn off or on as needed.
I’ve had two car with electric steering, a 99 Pontiac and the current 2018 Jeep. I cannot stand the lack of centering in these systems. There is something different in the feedback “feel” I’ve never adjusted to. Pitched the 99, and actually kept my 79 Pontiac as a work driver for several more years. Hydraulic assist is just plain superior.
Now this, curve assist? I had a rental with lane assist that was bad enough – pass a semi on the freeway it would kick the wheel left, very unnerving. Driving on a curvey narrow two lane road same drill, constantly kicking the steering wheel. You had to disable it each time the car was started.
I’m starting to covet some mid 90s Suburbans and Tahoes I see in town, several have aged well and are obviously well cared for. I may start the search and dump that &$a# Jeep before the electronics start to fail.
“Now this, curve assist?”
In the age of The Tranny that works on multiple levels.
I was also wondering about “Trans Siberian Orchestra” musical group – decades ahead of the “curve” ??
TSO is ultimately a derivation of Savatage with many of Savatage’s ridf’s incorporated into TSO songs. Both acts were produced by Paul O’Neil.
Savatage – perhaps the most under rated, borderline unknown progressive metal band of the late 80s & early 90’s.
Fully agree both were ahead of their time. Thankfully TSO has gotten well deserved credit!
Rock on!
Nothing like having a passenger reach over and grab the steering wheel. Especially one you can’t slap the snot out of for doing so.
Yep, flight instructors have been known to punch the lights out of panicky students about to stall the plane and kill the pilots. A completely similar situation.
‘Assistance’ is so last year. Steer-by-wire is what the cool kids have:
‘Soon, the Lexus RZ450e will be the first car sold in America without a shaft connecting the steering wheel and the front wheels — just some wiring.
‘Of course, you’re probably wondering about saaaaaafety. Essentially, there’s two of every component in the steering system, so if one fails, there’s a backup. In normal operation, steer-by-wire is powered by the 400-volt battery used to power the traction motors. If that fails, it can run off the car’s 12-volt system. And if that fails, there’s a small backup lithium-ion battery for the steering system alone.
‘Nothing in the FMVSS defines minimum performance parameters for steering systems in cars sold in the U.S. Just standards regarding the crash safety of conventional steering systems.
‘Steer-by-wire is also a requirement to achieve full autonomous driving, and the fantasy [sic] of a self-driving car with a steering wheel that folds itself into the dash. From a dynamics perspective, the system offers limitless tuning possibilities.’
https://www.roadandtrack.com/news/a43350167/toyota-steer-by-wire/
Okay, it has redundant systems to reduce failure probability to one in ten to the x power. But this failure mode doesn’t exist with a steering column.
You can see the bad intent: steer-by-wire is debuting in an EeeVee with 400-volt power on tap. R&T stenographers are cock-a-hoop over the possibili-titties of ‘autonomous driving’ and a ‘folding steering wheel.’
Twats! Not only do I not buy new cars anymore, I don’t buy ‘car magazines’ either. They’ve all turned into weak imitations of Jalopnik. They can kiss my ass.
Amen, Jim –
I have loved cars all my ilife; I have spent most of my working life writing about cars. Perhaps that is why I so despise what cars are becoming. Even if I had unlimited means, the only cars I’d be buying would be old ones – made before all of this evil and cloying crap became standard.
It’s a better deal, too. A decently restored or resto modded car from the 30s through the 70s is cheaper than a new one in most cases, cheaply maintainable, and with reasonable care, an asset which defies inflation. A nearby classic lot has a Lil Red Express in really nice shape, asking 40k. I won’t pay that but I certainly would over paying 40-120k for a new one. Though I have been drooling over it for a year now.
Saw one of these at the post office yesterday:
https://cdn.dealeraccelerate.com/stlouis/1/1814/76037/1920×1440/1955-beck-porsche-550-spyder-replica
Didn’t have a chance to ask the driver whether it was a replica or the real deal. It had a nice fruity exhaust note as he motored out of the parking lot.
It is disorienting to be confronted with how tiny it is. The original weighed about 1,300 lbs — basically, a road-worthy go-kart with a prestigious badge on it.
The problem is you NEED unlimited means to buy the old ones nowadays.
Having just had to break loose a 40 year old slip yoke in the column of a truck I’m restoring I can see one, just one, benefit for steer by wire. Oh sure, the other 39.999 years no complaints about good old recirculating ball with a push-pull cross over rod. But that day, the language, oh the language, my neighbors heard.
I miss my ’99 Lincoln Continental…
I had to drive my folks 21 Ford edge from Edinburg Va to Lynchburg. Never drove this turd any farther than the car wash because I farken hate it. Got on 81 south set the cruise at 78 and no problems until south of Mt Jackson 81 has a sweeping bend and all of a sudden this pos that I thought I was driving slams on the brakes……WHY? Clear day …. dry road….Tried to use the cruise a few more times but it would not keep MY set speed seemed like it didn’t the fact that I was “speeding” If this was my car would drive this thing into a large oak tree. My old junk now looks a lot better.
What is this lane-keep assist going to do in the Winter, when you cannot see the lines on the road? Not in the middle, nor on the sides, due to ice and snow? Brick the vehicle entirely? I guess I should not give these evil demons any ideas.
Assist systems: When the going gets tough they get going… offline.
(Sniffs haughtily) precisely why, peasant, do you need to drive in such horrid conditions? You must be stupid if you try, and must be stopped by technology and police, for your own good. You can take an omnibus.
RKBA, it’s not just for hunting.
I work in the skiing industry where we do a lot of winter travel. Our work fleet of F150s has some of these features. It wasn’t offensive, if it couldn’t see the lane lines it didn’t do anything. Plus you could turn it off completely. But these were 2020 model years and bottom of the barrel work truck spec vinyl seats, vinyl floors, not sure if that’s a possibility still.
@Eric – It appears that Johnny Cab will be waxing philosphical when we next see him on screen later this year in his new career role.
https://trekmovie.com/2025/04/13/robert-picardo-on-how-the-doctor-is-deeper-in-star-trek-starfleet-academy/
The first night i owned my 2018 Camry, the lane “assist” technology nearly killed me driving home from the dealership, attempting to wrest control from me when I failed to adequately signal entering a turn lane before crossing a line, and it has been off ever since.
Fortunately, in that model year, the “feature” can be turned off.
I know the limitations of the optical systems used to implement the “assist”, having worked on vehicle detection and tracking for toll plazas. Even surveyed down to the inch/centimeter, the plaza *stationary* systems acceptable error rate is typically 1 in 10,000 — ok if a $5 toll is missed occasionally on a busy road, but do you want to bet your life on 99.99% with the system in a dynamic environment?
So all the cars will travel in the same way using basically the same algorithmic paths. The roads around here are already rutted, what will happen when every car is in the same path? The ruts will be horrible and you won’t be able to move out of them.
Good news for Midas. Good news for tire shops. Bad news for people who have more suspension maintenance because the car didn’t get out of the ruts.
“This assumes there ARE lines on the road.”
Painted lines are not needed. The software used in more recent ADAS systems is capable of determining the road edges and then inferring lane width.
Not so good at dealing with 1/2 width situations like unmarked bike lanes and weird shoulders but getting better all the time.
I generally signal in part due to never knowing if the “Assault and Persecute” boys are around but I don’t bother for roadkill or potholes as the roads are worn out and my car is too big to fit on the bike path that is freshly paved 🙂
I remember reading a long time ago that boys crashed more often than girls but that if they survived they tended to be better drivers in the end because they had picked up more skills by pushing the envelope more often. Nowadays the young are all bad drivers as they expect the car to drive them.
All that said I’m glad I don’t have that technology in my cars due to the risk of hacking by nation state actors, unreliability and good luck getting this stuff fixed once it breaks. I suppose this all started with the speed minder on your speedometer which turned a light on when you went faster than a preset speed but now has gotten ridiculous.
As that old saying goes: “Technology can be either a fearsome tyrant or faithful servant, pick one”.
This assumes there ARE lines on the road. You don’t have to drive very far in the TarHeel State to realize paint is optional. Perhaps it’s due to the cost of paint being driving to astronomical levels by the EnviroCommies.
It also means it will drive over every pot hole on the deteriorating GovCo roads. We’ve got money for YouKrane and the Israelites but, can’t afford to fix that chuck hole you could lose a Volkswagen in.
And what about basic crash avoidance? You should always have a “safety bubble” to bail into in case of emergency. That mower falling off the landscaping trailer on the interstate means you have to react IMMEDIATELY, not take the time to signal your intentions.
And they wonder why new car sales are down…and why I drink…
…and why Teslas run into parked fire trucks…