Tell us about the "Highway Driving Assist (HDA)" feature

[tallLeRoy]

The info so far about the "Highway Driving Assist" feature has been quite unclear. Can someone with an EX or SX try it out and tell us what it really does and if it can be adjusted to individual driving styles.

Thanks,

LeRoy

 

[ucinn]

I found this about Toyotas..

Toyota T-Mate | Toyota Europe

Toyota T-Mate is a series of innovative safety systems to protect the driver, passengers and other road users when parking, or in the city.

www.toyota-europe.com

 

[Jenny Wang]

I found this about Toyotas..

Toyota T-Mate | Toyota Europe

Toyota T-Mate is a series of innovative safety systems to protect the driver, passengers and other road users when parking, or in the city.

www.toyota-europe.com

Very cool. It sounds like automated driving capability. Or at least pretty close to it.

 

[BanditLover]

The info so far about the "Highway Driving Assist" feature has been quite unclear. Can someone with an EX or SX try it out and tell us what it really does and if it can be adjusted to individual driving styles.

Thanks,

LeRoy

My husband and I tested an SX earlier today and used the "Highway Driving Assist". The car will help steer itself to stay within the lane as long as it is not a sharp curve. So for most interstate driving you can move your hands off the wheel for a period of time and let the car drive itself (to include accelerating, slowing, stopping and resuming speed). You cannot leave your hands off the wheel for extended periods as the car will remind you to place your hands back on the steering wheel. The car monitors your attention and even warns you that you may need a break with the symbol of a coffee cup. When cars were on either side of our vehicle on the interstate the "HDA" seemed even more vigilant in it's lane steering intervention. We have tested this same feature on Ford and Lincoln with less impressive results than we experienced on the Telluride. We tested "HDA" on an Audi and found that it worked similar to the Telluride. We were told that Kia and Audi use the same self driving technology purchased from Aurora in Silicon Valley. We were told that changing the driving mode will adjust the safety features to accommodate more or less aggressive driving styles, although we did not have enough time to confirm this. All in all the Telluride SX is AWESOME, it exceeded our high expectations. Look out Audi, BMW and Mercedes, Kia is making a bold move with the Telluride.

 

[tallLeRoy]

Thanks BanditLover. What you describe is very similar to driving my 2015 Genesis when the accommodating cruise and lane keeping assist are both on. But my Genesis does not have an attention monitor.

I still wonder how speed is affected. There was some mention of speed change for known roads in the things I have seen. I plan to spend some time in an SX tomorrow, if they still have it when I get there. I will read what the manual has to say and check out the controls they let you adjust. I expect I will have something to report after that session.

 

[Administrator]

My husband and I tested an SX earlier today and used the "Highway Driving Assist". The car will help steer itself to stay within the lane as long as it is not a sharp curve. So for most interstate driving you can move your hands off the wheel for a period of time and let the car drive itself (to include accelerating, slowing, stopping and resuming speed). You cannot leave your hands off the wheel for extended periods as the car will remind you to place your hands back on the steering wheel. The car monitors your attention and even warns you that you may need a break with the symbol of a coffee cup. When cars were on either side of our vehicle on the interstate the "HDA" seemed even more vigilant in it's lane steering intervention. We have tested this same feature on Ford and Lincoln with less impressive results than we experienced on the Telluride. We tested "HDA" on an Audi and found that it worked similar to the Telluride. We were told that Kia and Audi use the same self driving technology purchased from Aurora in Silicon Valley. We were told that changing the driving mode will adjust the safety features to accommodate more or less aggressive driving styles, although we did not have enough time to confirm this. All in all the Telluride SX is AWESOME, it exceeded our high expectations. Look out Audi, BMW and Mercedes, Kia is making a bold move with the Telluride.

Great information! Thank you very much! It sounds like the Telluride has an excellent system for partial autonomous driving. I also find that, in my experience, these "partial" systems don't do well with sharp turns. Then again, its not supposed to be 100% autonomous. But it's VERY helpful as a second set of eyes - or when you're distracted for one reason or another - and we all know that can happen to anyone. Anyway, thank you for the review!

 

[ucinn]

So, it's just basically turns on you LKA and smart cruise control. I do that in the Stinger and it does well driving me to work on the highway But then it spoils the drive by telling you to put your hands back on the steering wheel. It does do a good job though. I have never had the guts to let it come to a stop by itself though..too scary for me...lol

 

[BanditLover]

Great information! Thank you very much! It sounds like the Telluride has an excellent system for partial autonomous driving. I also find that, in my experience, these "partial" systems don't do well with sharp turns. Then again, its not supposed to be 100% autonomous. But it's VERY helpful as a second set of eyes - or when you're distracted for one reason or another - and we all know that can happen to anyone. Anyway, thank you for the review!

Yes, the Highway Driving Assist and other safety measures in the Kia Telluride performed as well or in most cases better than those we have experienced in more expensive vehicles.

 

[Administrator]

So, it's just basically turns on you LKA and smart cruise control. I do that in the Stinger and it does well driving me to work on the highway But then it spoils the drive by telling you to put your hands back on the steering wheel. It does do a good job though. I have never had the guts to let it come to a stop by itself though..too scary for me...lol

Yup. I find it very useful when opening a bottle of water where I need two hands off the steering wheel. It's only a second or two and I only do it on straightaway when there's no traffic around me. It works flawlessly and worst case scenario, I don't take my eyes off the road, so I can steer immediately if needed...

Yes, the Highway Driving Assist and other safety measures in the Kia Telluride performed as well or in most cases better than those we have experienced in more expensive vehicles.

Well if it's made by the same company Audi uses, then it's top notch. I've rear a lot of positive reviews about Audi's system...

 

[tallLeRoy]

Well I got to sit in the SX Pretige this afternoon and peruse the Owners Manual.

Here are pictures of the pages related to Highway Driving Assist. (Forgive the distortions, I didn't have the heart to break the spine of someone else's manual)

 

[tallLeRoy]

From the Owners Manual:

Highway Driving Assist uses the Navigation speed limit data to set the smart cruise control speed. OK, but what about construction zones? The manual says that if the camera detects a speed limit that does not match the Navigation data, it will still use the Navigation data. It will not adjust to the construction zone speed automatically.

What if you want to travel 2-3 mph or 8-10 mph faster than the speed limit? You cannot use the automatic speed function. It only sets speed to the exact speed limit in the Navigation data.

Here is a very poorly worded paragraph from page 2. "The HDA works on highways and does not work on urban expressways, national highways or general roads." Hmmm, where will it work?

The feature is not active when using Carplay or Android Auto.

In short, I don't think I will enable the feature. Lane Keeping Assist and Smart Cruise Control should be just fine for me.

Note to KIA. Let the user set the speed they like to travel, then when the speed limit goes down 10 mph, adjust their set speed down 10 mph. Also if your camera picks up a differing speed limit than the Navigation data, use the camera data.

 

[tobidog]

Where we live maybe half of fatal accidents are caused by a vehicle drifting into oncoming traffic or to the right off the road. I bet it is usually a driver texting or playing with the cell phone. Driving a Telluride with this enabled could save some lives.

 

[Zaiwhat]

I test drove the KIA Telluride SX and very interested in buying one but extremely disappointed that Highway Driving Assist doesn't allow you to adjust the cruising speed at anything other then the speed limit. KIA this should be a software update that you should make.

 

[Superta329]

We drove our S AWD from Jersey to Florida with lane assist and adaptive cruise control. All I can say is Wow. Made the ride so much better. Took a little bit to trust the braking parts but worked great. Was shocked at how well the stop and go worked. Definitely makes the long rides less stressful.

 

[ucinn]

We drove our S AWD from Jersey to Florida with lane assist and adaptive cruise control. All I can say is Wow. Made the ride so much better. Took a little bit to trust the braking parts but worked great. Was shocked at how well the stop and go worked. Definitely makes the long rides less stressful.

I still don't trust it on my Stinger.. I'm not brave enough to do that I guess..lol

 

[Superta329]

I still don't trust it on my Stinger.. I'm not brave enough to do that I guess..lol

I didnt trust it either at first. My foot got stiff holding by the brake pedal. It is awesome to use keeping up with the flow of traffic on I95. Set the cruise for 85 and it just flows beautiful. MPG was great also. 25.9 mpg in smart drive for the entire 1100 mile trip

 

[jazzyone]

As others have mentioned, HDA is only for automatically setting the cruise control speed to match the speed limit from the GPS (on certain federal highways). All the safety features combined gives you semi-autonomous driving. Autoweek refers to Kia classification of the Telluride driving automation as Level 2. 2020 Kia Telluride first drive: Open wide for the Telluride

A useful undocumented feature of HDA mode is the ability to detect traffic movement to automatically accelerate from a standstill in stop and go traffic.

Without HDA active, you’ll need to press the accelerator pedal or resume button to get the vehicle moving again. Since HDA only works on certain federal highways you’ll have to manually intervene from a standstill in most situations.

In addition to speed limit control, I read that the vehicle was suppose to overtake slower cars and automatically change lanes safely with HDA enabled. I was really excited about HDA’s full capabilities, but sadly, these capabilities doesn’t exist in the current line up.

 

[Superta329]

I didnt trust it either at first. My foot got stiff holding by the brake pedal. It is awesome to use keeping up with the flow of traffic on I95. Set the cruise for 85 and it just flows beautiful. MPG was great also. 25.9 mpg in smart drive for the entire 1100 mile trip

5 people and luggage. Not bad for size vehicle. Very stable comfortable ride with plenty of power if and when you need it. Excellent for long trips.

 

[Superta329]

I didnt trust it either at first. My foot got stiff holding by the brake pedal. It is awesome to use keeping up with the flow of traffic on I95. Set the cruise for 85 and it just flows beautiful. MPG was great also. 25.9 mpg in smart drive for the entire 1100 mile trip

5 people and luggage. Not bad for size vehicle. Very stable comfortable ride with plenty of power if and when you need it

 

[Mr White]

Drove from New York to Maryland using the smart features, and it was amazing. I did notice on sharper turns that sometimes it drifts to the edge of the lane and starts beeping, but other than that it was a smooth ride. I found that HDA does work when I had android auto going, so not sure why the book says it wont. I had waze/spotify going on android auto and HDA still adjusted speed correctly when set to match the current speed limit. Clearly highway driving it isn't ideal to do the speed limit, so I set mine much higher and just let it adjust to match the car in front of me. Its a very minor inconvenience to look for speed limit signs and adjust accordingly.

The braking took some getting use to, and the maximum follow distance is way too much. At 75mph I was about 20 car lengths behind the vehicle in front of me. Once adjusted to the lower setting it was right where I expected it to be.