# Autopilot steering wheel controls question



## hydrofied714 (Dec 13, 2018)

I know the right scroll wheel is used to adjust speed and follow distance. Problem is it doesn’t seem to work all the time. Do you have to be on the Autopilot settings screen on the display for the steering wheel controls to work? I noticed it wouldn’t work sometimes when I’m on a different screen like Slacker radio.


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## Frully (Aug 30, 2018)

I only ever adjust my autopilot (right scroll/click) settings while actively driving in autopilot...
Sometimes it misses a 'fast scroll for +5' and instead registers a single tick +1 of velocity set point change...but I've never had it completely miss inputs. This works when in radio, climate, or any of the menus as far as I know (except the adjust-steering-wheel-and-mirrors-wizard window)


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## ADK46 (Aug 4, 2018)

It's always done what I expected it to do. I don't know if it is mode-dependent, like the left scroll wheel - if it is, I have not triggered it.

I know my wife had some initial trouble inadvertently invoking the inward-push action, which does something ... can't remember what. As you probably know, the scroll wheel can move in three ways.


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## Enginerd (Aug 28, 2017)

Right scroll wheel only adjusts AP settings when AP is engaged.
Otherwise I believe the only function it performs is: push for voice command.


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## hydrofied714 (Dec 13, 2018)

Thanks for the responses guys. I guess it may have been something I did wrong on my end. I will test it again next time I use AP.

Also, is there anyway to see the follow distance when you are not in the AP settings menu? I may have missed it but I don’t think you can see this info when in the Slacker radio menu, navigation, ect


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## GeoJohn23 (Oct 16, 2018)

hydrofied714 said:


> Thanks for the responses guys. I guess it may have been something I did wrong on my end. I will test it again next time I use AP.
> 
> Also, is there anyway to see the follow distance when you are not in the AP settings menu? I may have missed it but I don't think you can see this info when in the Slacker radio menu, navigation, ect


What I do is tap the right scroll wheel to the left to increase the follow distance and it'll pop up, then I either keep increasing from there or go the other way back down and maybe even closer....


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## hydrofied714 (Dec 13, 2018)

GeoJohn23 said:


> What I do is tap the right scroll wheel to the left to increase the follow distance and it'll pop up, then I either keep increasing from there or go the other way back down and maybe even closer....


Thanks. I wish they could display that info on screen at all times but your method seems like a viable solution. Any suggestions on what distance to use for various traffic conditions?


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## GeoJohn23 (Oct 16, 2018)

hydrofied714 said:


> Thanks. I wish they could display that info on screen at all times but your method seems like a viable solution. Any suggestions on what distance to use for various traffic conditions?


I evenly light traffic, I usually use a middle setting like 4 or 5. If there's chance that traffic will occasionally jamb up but is otherwise traveling at 65+MPH, I crank it all the way out and even then (in the past) it would often not notice the slow-down starting ahead soon enough to not result in very heavy breaking (so then I'd also crank down the speed setting to start pre-slowing the car. (I haven't been in this condition with 2019.5.15 yet, so don't know if this is improved). Then for my typical bumper-to-bumper 0-40MPH commuter traffic, or any other stop-n-go, it's set to 1 or a steady stream of others pull in front of you - and as others have noted with 5.15 even 1 is further back now and too far away to keep others from cutting in (and Nicki then stomps on the breaks when they do) hopefully they adjust this again in a future update.


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## hydrofied714 (Dec 13, 2018)

GeoJohn23 said:


> I evenly light traffic, I usually use a middle setting like 4 or 5. If there's chance that traffic will occasionally jamb up but is otherwise traveling at 65+MPH, I crank it all the way out and even then (in the past) it would often not notice the slow-down starting ahead soon enough to not result in very heavy breaking (so then I'd also crank down the speed setting to start pre-slowing the car. (I haven't been in this condition with 2019.5.15 yet, so don't know if this is improved). Then for my typical bumper-to-bumper 0-40MPH commuter traffic, or any other stop-n-go, it's set to 1 or a steady stream of others pull in front of you - and as others have noted with 5.15 even 1 is further back now and too far away to keep others from cutting in (and Nicki then stomps on the breaks when they do) hopefully they adjust this again in a future update.


Thank you. Yea I do notice that in bumper to bumper traffic, 1 is still too conservative. I feel that people behind me are irritated that I am not closer to the car in front of me. I honestly haven't used AP much outside of heavy traffic. I'm a bit wary of using AP when I'm going 65MPH+. But from what you suggested, setting it to 4 or 5 should be fine then? Does that equate to 4 or 5 car lengths?


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## GeoJohn23 (Oct 16, 2018)

hydrofied714 said:


> Thank you. Yea I do notice that in bumper to bumper traffic, 1 is still too conservative. I feel that people behind me are irritated that I am not closer to the car in front of me. I honestly haven't used AP much outside of heavy traffic. I'm a bit wary of using AP when I'm going 65MPH+. But from what you suggested, setting it to 4 or 5 should be fine then? Does that equate to 4 or 5 car lengths?


It's more time-based than distance based... that is at any particular setting, say 3, the follow distance will be far closer at 0-10MPH than at 60-70MPH. Each person, of course, will have their own comfort level, so don't necessarily take my recommendation on the follow number, find your own comfort value.

I have no issue with AP at 70MPH in little to no traffic... but get less comfortable as traffic gets heavier while still going at that speed to where I set it at max distance (7 I think), and/or set my speed lower, or I might dis-engage it altogether.

The reality is that the car is probably far better at avoiding rear-ending someone than I could be 100% of the time -- but the ride on AP might not be very enjoyable in the cabin for me or especially my passengers, and I sometime feel that AP is *more* likely to result in me being rear-ended than my own driving (because of the fast breaking sometimes at a long distance out that would surprise the driver behind me).

Note that even without AP, the Car's Collision Warning works very well (although it will once in a while go off due to a car parked on the side along a curved section of a city street type road -- but I'd rather have it give me false alerts than not alerting in a real situation). I've had a few cases where traffic starts moving and then stops again suddenly and I don't immediately react (perhaps because I've glanced off to the rear or side view mirrors for example) and Niki will scream at me sufficiently early to get my attention back and slow down or stop. I'm not sure, but I think I had it once even auto-apply the breaks the instant I let of the accelerator and before I could get my foot over to the break peddle... we certainly stopped far quicker than I would have thought at the moment and soon enough to not hit anyone.


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## jsmay311 (Oct 2, 2017)

Enginerd said:


> Right scroll wheel only adjusts AP settings when AP is engaged.
> Otherwise I believe the only function it performs is: push for voice command.


That's not quite true. You can change the following distance at any time. AP (or TACC) does not need to be engaged. You can even do it when you are in park.


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## hydrofied714 (Dec 13, 2018)

jsmay311 said:


> That's not quite true. You can change the following distance at any time. AP (or TACC) does not need to be engaged. You can even do it when you are in park.


I thin


GeoJohn23 said:


> It's more time-based than distance based... that is at any particular setting, say 3, the follow distance will be far closer at 0-10MPH than at 60-70MPH. Each person, of course, will have their own comfort level, so don't necessarily take my recommendation on the follow number, find your own comfort value.
> 
> I have no issue with AP at 70MPH in little to no traffic... but get less comfortable as traffic gets heavier while still going at that speed to where I set it at max distance (7 I think), and/or set my speed lower, or I might dis-engage it altogether.
> 
> ...


Gotcha. I think you're absolutely right about AP having a higher chance of causing the car in back of you to rear-end you than it is of hitting the car in front. I guess being too safe i.e. braking too early can be a detriment in certain situations. Another advantage I think humans have over AP at this point is the awareness to recognize bad/aggressive drivers and the ability to avoid them or predict their next move. For example, if you see a wreckless driver in a Porsche constantly switching lanes and cutting people off really close, you would know that if they pulled up next to you that there's a high likelihood of them cutting you off as well. I'm not sure how AP would react in such a scenario. But I assume most people would proactively slow down or let off the gas steadily in anticipation.

Anyways thanks for the recommendations. I will try to find my comfort zone. Not sure if I'm ready for 65+MPH with moderate traffic though 😀


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