[Chris]

Anything is possible, but because a system like that involves so many of the bus systems and likely requires the multiplex system my guess is it would be cheaper to buy a bus with it.

Or just don’t tailgate, pay attention and slow down.

Maybe there is an app for a smart phone. Tom would have one on his.

[Archived]

Check out kng cruise. You use a dial intead of buttons. I used to ha e on my semi and loved it

[Roscoeapproved]

I have never driven anything with adaptive cruise control but I have often wondered how they operate. Not in the sense how it senses distances and how much braking to use, but if the system has provision to recognize situations where heavy braking is not justified.

For example every single one of us has had a car or truck cut in front of us, or across our lane. When we are in control our brain is doing a fast calculation as to the need to apply brakes. We are influenced by if the vehicle is just passing through out lane rapidly such as to go from our left to an exit ramp on our right and is in fact not a threat. Or is the vehicle that suddenly enters our lane of travel and stays there going so fast the proximity from his rear bumper to our front bumper is unimportant because in seconds the distance becomes a safe one as he pulls away.

Does the system have some means of calculating threat levels such as our brain does because if it applies hard braking in the examples above will be be at risk of being rear ended because someone following is unable to expect braking?

Who has such a system and how does it respond to the myriad of situations where the distance is small but braking is not required.

---

Jeff and Lindsay

91 Marathon XL

[Bernie]

Good questions and points Jon. I would add to that, i am sure the system does not take into account what is going on inside the bus. For instance, your co pilot just stands up to head back to the restroom. As she takes her first few steps with her back to the windsheild some cowboy coming up on your left decides he needs to be in the lane to the right of you. As he brushes past your front bumper the adaptive cruise slams on the brakes sending the co pilot into the windsheild. As Jon stated, the danger was likely momentary. As Rv drivers with full control we can make these decisions more effectively than a computer.

[Craig]

Does adaptive cruise control apply the brakes? Or just reduce the vehicle speed by easing up or even closing the throttle?

[Bernie]

Seems to me the latter would be regular cruise control without the distance monitoring.Hopefully someone who knows more about it will answer these questions.

[Mark]

The cruise control reaction is predicated on how fast you are going and the distance it takes to slow the bus keeping the safe distance on whats in front of you if you had to stop.

I have it and never use it, never will but my friend who I would consider a lazy driver followed me from Coburg, OR to Montana with it set to 72 mph and his retarder set to 3 in his bus and he said it was wonderful. He claimed he touched the brake twice following me for 650 miles. When into traffic it slowed him to 50 mph and then back to set speed.

Out in the open road it would be nice if that’s your thing but on a highway like 99 thru CA it would be impossible.

Later

bv

[glen]

I have adaptive cruise in my Audi Q7 and it is great. It follows traffic and maintains a predetermined distance I set from traffic in front of me.

The unit applies the brake to a complete stop and restarts. I can drive 200 miles and never touch the brake or gas pedal.

If someone cuts in front of me it will do a deceleration and apply brake to assume my safe distance set by me. It only applies the brake based on closure rate.

The person cutting in front normally has a negative closure rate as they are the idiot trying to run 80 in a traffic flow of 70.

[Mark]

You said something important that you determine the distance.

In the bus it’s pre set by Prevost and the only way to change the distance between vehicles is thru parameter setting which needs a upper level clearance to change.

Later

bv

[Archived]

Check out the Bendix system:

Wingman

[Archived]

I know of two guys who often run together, one with adaptive cruise control. The guy with the cruise control sets his speed at a value higher than the other guy, who will be the lead driver.

The cruise control will maintain the spacing between the two coaches, and unless the cruise control guy steps out from behind the other guy it will not accelerate to the set speed.

But despite the system having the ability to let people do stuff like the above, how does it work in the real world? There are so many times during my average trips that some moron jumps into the gap between me and the vehicle ahead that my braking system would be engaged a lot which seems to have the potential to create a dangerous situation.

Anyone remember when drivers really had to drive?

[Andy]

We have adaptive cruise control on our Millennium. I frequently use it. There are things I like about it and things I don’t like.

If someone pulls in front of me but is going faster then me, it knows there is not an issue. If someone merges from an entrance ramp right in front of me and going slower then me it puts on the brakes.

It is fairly uncanny in it’s ability to distinguish which lane the threat is in. I can come up on a car in the lane to the right of me while the highway is turning left. In that case the slower car appears in front of me but in the lane to my right. The bus doesn’t slow down. In addition to distance measuring technology, it must also have visual technology to figure that one out.

I often set it for a speed greater then I expect to go and then pull in behind a truck and just go with the flow.

What I don’t like, is setting it at 72 and pulling behind a truck doing 67 because that’s the speed I want to go and 30 minutes later looking down and realizing I’m doing 58. Another issue is the distance it sets between me and who I’m following. It leaves a large enough hole everybody wants to fill it.

All in all I like it a lot.

[Mark]

I’m sure am in a minority on this and I may be a minority of one, but it really bothers me that “drivers” are doing as suggested above. It will not be long before that practice will be combined with a lane change warning or control system, at which point nobody will be driving the coach.

As planes became designed to do what pilots were supposed to be doing (because pilot skills were eroding due to those systems) the loss of pilot skills gave us 737 Max airplanes and incompetent pilots.

I am convinced these systems as used above are going to contribute to the erosion of driver skills.

[Archived]

But Jon, just think about how much time it will save being able to put the bus in autopilot, heading back to the bathroom and then making a sandwich before getting back in the driver’s seat… Great convenience!

[Jim/Chris]

Les, I know you were kidding, but we already have self driving vehicles. There are and have been so many steering wheel holders playing with their cell phones, texting, reprogramming the GPS, looking at fakebook on their smart phone, etc. these systems now gaining widespread acceptance are being used to encourage even more so-called drivers to turn over their responsibility to the systems on the vehicle.

There is just something wrong with nobody actually driving a 50,000# vehicle. Why pay attention to driving if the vehicle will do it for you?