Image Credit: Lexus
Testing a $92,000 car is a bit daunting. You worry a little about traffic jams, a deer jumping out into the road, and the possibility of hail falling out of the sky at any moment. Knowing that the vehicle you’re driving costs more than your first house is a stark realization.
In the coming age of automated driving, there’s some hope. I’ve been testing cars for about five years now, and the technology that makes the car slow down in traffic is becoming almost indispensable these days. Recently, testing the 2018 Lexus LC500 made me realize we’re not too far from a scenario where a computer controls our speed (and a car traffic control center controls the flow of all traffic). Known as All-Speed Dynamic Radar Cruise Control, the tech senses the car in front of you and can slow down to a full stop. I tested it in heavy traffic for several days to see if Lexus has improved the sensors over the past few years.
Adaptive cruise control tech like this is not new. What is new is that the experience has become much more gradual and seamless. You barely notice the car slowing down, a hint of autonomous driving once the industry figures out how that will work. When you slow down even a few miles per hour, the LC500 resumes slowly, not with the jerking motion so common when adaptive cruise control first became an…
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