I would love to know about your experience and recommendations regarding these active assist features (not the audible and visible "alerts" but the physical intervention or "actions") (using 2018 terminology):

1. Active Brake Assist
2. Active Brake Assist with Cross-Traffic Function
3. Active Parking Assist (Parking Pilot)
4. Active Distance Assist DISTRONIC (Distance Pilot)
5. Active Steering Assist

Thanks!

 

For Active Steering Assist: turn it OFF if you're on a very straight road. On a trip, the GLC thought I wasn't providing enough steering input on a long, flat, straight road, and I had to jiggle the steering wheel every 15-20 seconds. Easier to turn it off in those situations. Now, I mostly turn it on only in stop-and-go traffic.

 

i like the distronic plus, distance pilot in stop and go traffic very nice. only downside is if you are on the highway and can see cars stopped in the distance car will continue at high speed and then jam the brakes last minute. in these situations i usually intervene myself and hate to do it - wish the car would be smart enough - but i guess that's the nature of the technology at this time

lane keep assist - this also helps reduce fatigue, and works pretty well. I found recently that all you really need to do is lay your hand on the wheel and it will not warn you. i do wish you could keep your hands off for more than 15 seconds, that would be really cool.

these two features for me make long highway drives much less tiring.

 

All these options are standard in Australia (or at least they are on the 250d, but I think also on all the other models). So this is not a decision that we had to make. Whether I'd order them would depend on the price.

I like the idea of the braking options, but haven't had to use them fortunately. The active parking assist is neat, but I'd be highly sensitive to the price, as parking manually is a whole lot easier with the 360 camera (also standard here).

I think the disctronic is fantastic. Once you're used to it, cruise control in traffic without it is a pain, such as in our B200. Highly recommended.

The active steering assist is a bit marginal. I find that it makes the steering light. It's useful in a couple of situations. It does make it easier to steer in a dead straight line for long periods, despite the need to have your hands being detected as being on the steering wheel every 15 secs. If your attention has momentarily wandered (naughty) coming into a slight turn in the road then steering assist with alert you to this by starting the turn.

Note that this is different to active lane-keeping assist (at least it is in this country), which I find a pain and mostly leave off. If it detects that you've strayed from your lane then it brakes slightly and jerks you back into your lane. I find that country driving is tedious with this turned on, but it can be useful on highways (interstates / autoroutes) and the other driver finds it useful. On balance, although they have their uses, I'd only choose either of these steering options if they were relatively inexpensive.

 

Like others, fortunately haven't had occasion for the Active Brake functions to kick in, but I'm sure I'll be glad I have them if that happens! Actually, I think I have noticed the Brake Assist has provided excellent braking response in a couple of situations. The brakes just seem to be super responsive....I love them.

The important thing to bear in mind about Parking Assist, at least in the US, is that without Parktronic you don't get Parking Sensors, if that matters to you. Parking Assist also gets you the 360 camera, that I perceived as sort of gimmicky, but I find I love it in parking lots....shows exactly where curbs are to keep from scrubbing your wheels.
Haven't even tried the Parking Assist function yet. I can parallel park fine, but I'm sure I'll use the 360 cam to help me keep an eye on other cars/obstacles. As far as I'm concerned, Parking Assist just happened to come with the Parking Sensors and 360 camera.

I love DISTRONIC Plus and it does a nice job. Makes traveling on interstates much less tiring and aggravating as the flow of traffic changes. My one complaint, and this is not the cars fault, is I find my car slowing down abruptly as I close in on a vehicle, as ajmtbm described. Without it I was always aware I needed to change lanes and go around the car in front of me. Now they kind of sneak up on me. I just need to pay better attention. Intervening by braking, if you need to, is not that big a deal and it's easy to resume, just like old cruise controls.

Be sure you understand the difference between Active Steering Assist and Lane Keeping Assist. Bips analysis is spot on....I think each driver figures out what works for them. Active Steering Assist is actually part of the DISTRONIC Plus feature and makes driving on highways almost effortless. Lane Keeping Assist Can be rather annoying as Bips described and I would only plan on using it on longer, straighter roads when I knew I wouldn't be taking inside curves kind of tight. The intervention is annoying and, in a way, kind of dangerous given the stern braking that occurs to get you back in your lane. But I believe you can turn the braking off and just have the steering wheel vibrate.

While it's good to understand what each feature in a package does, you just need to decide what you HAVE to have. If Active Cruise Control is important to you, then you need to get the Premium Driver Assistance Pkg....the other stuff just comes with it. Same with the Advanced Parking Assist Pkg, if you want parking sensors, you have to get that pkg. The Advanced Parking Assist just comes with it.

No need to worry about each individual feature. Just figure out what you've GOT to have on your car and get the correct packages that include those features.

 

On the Active Steering Assist, I had only had the GLC a week before heading out on a long distance 4 day trip with smooth highways that were newly painted. The steering assist functioned beautifully when I place a couple fingers rested on the steering wheel, with all smooth banking turns handles my the car. Even some country roads with clean painted lines that were twisty were fine if I reduced the Distronic speeds down a notch. Where the steering assist seems to turn off (steering wheel displayed goes from green to grey) was when the roads were missing an outside lane marker. Or if the paint was well worn and the camera could no longer safely judge the lane's centre. Other than that, what a pleasure to cruise along for hours, with no arm/hand fatigue, with only an occasional check to make sure all was well. By no means self-driving, but certainly something to think about when you do long distances a lot.

 

+1

 

Out of curiosity does anyone know how this compare to the Tesla system? Bad on articles I have read it sounds similar in function but you can keep hand off the wheel for up to one minute. Also it losese the lane markers less but it sounds like the basic intent of it being an assist and not a self driving system are the same ( while trelated can become self drive of course will distronic will never change)

 

The Steering ASSIST on my GLC is fine with me. All I know about about the Tesla system is a guy got killed a year or so ago while filming himself "riding" in his Tesla while it was self driving. He was behind the wheeel, just not paying attention. OUCH!

 

Distronic with lane keeping assist is great. In almost heavy rush hour traffic I don't use it because it does tend to use a lot of break as it doesn't "see" everyone slowing down ahead. But in medium to light traffic it is awesome.

The lane assist sometimes "warns" you if you try to hug the outside of the lane while passing big semi trucks..but otherwise we love it.

In comparison to Telsa's autopilot, this doesn't even come close to what Telsa's offers. Tesla's can drive fairly reliably on the highway (with curves) with very little input from the driver.

 

I have it on my 2018 GLC. Have been using it for about a week in the Greater Toronto Area. Very positive experience so far. The system works really well during rush hour commutes and does significantly help in making the commute a more relaxed experience.

I have opted to use it primarily once I get on the highway and then plan on staying in lane. If I am changing lanes etc, then the system does still work, but I find it easier to do it manually as I then have more control.

I would definitely recommend getting this.

 

Is steering assist only active when distronic is active? Just got my car 2 days ago. This morning was my first highway drive, and the steering assist didn't seem to kick in ever. The lane assist rumbled a couple times to earn me of a lane departure but that was it.

 

yes, steering assist only active when distronic is active
you can turn steering assist off and have only active cruise but not the other way around

 

Our GLC43 doesn't have any active assists, I love to drive this car manually and would never end up using them even if I had them.

 

Lane assist wants to take us on to right hand exits on the highway if we are in the right lane. Have to pull back a bit.. Otherwise, all of the assistive features work very well.

 

Omg, this works awesomely well on the glc-coupe. I didn't touch the steering wheel or brake at all while going through the midtown tunnel on my commute home today. Actually driving on LIE right now while I write this message. It's like being chauffered haha. Love it!!

 

...but only up to 30 km/h or 20 mph right? Over those speeds you get the warning every ~10 seconds.

 

i thought it was always every 15 seconds or so you needed to put your hands on the wheel? then again most people probably drive <20 mph so rarely that its immaterial and basically you always need a hand on the wheel

 

Every 10-15 seconds above 20 mph. Below 20 mph you can drive forever without having to touch anything. I did that a couple of times on a 10+ mile stretch of highway in heavy traffic. It's awesome!

 

wow thats good to know thanks.

if only that applied to above 20 mph

or like the E class one minute at any speed - that would be awesome...

 

Still trying to figure out the difference between Standard and Adaptive modes. Any additional insights?

 

If it is Standard vs. Adaptive Cruise Controls what you are referring to then here it is:
- adaptive (as the name suggests) adapts to traffic speed.
With other words:
- Adaptive: you set your cruise control to a specific speed and when the car in front of you is going slower than what you had set your speed to your car will slow down and not rear-end the car in front of you. It will follow at the same speed as the car in front. When your lane clears your car will speed up to the speed you had set it to.
- Standard: you set your cruise control to a specific speed and when you catch up with slower traffic you have to apply the breaks yourself, otherwise you will rear-end the car in the front.

 

Adaptive cruise control is set based on speed and distance (both selectable). The system maintains the set speed and distance from the vehicle in front. The feature works flawlessly and when the vehicle in front comes to a stop your vehicle also comes to a stop without any interaction from you. This is a major difference between the standard cruise control and distronic.

 

Thanks. Understand MB’s terminology now.