Betrayed by my car assistant
Betrayed by my car assistant
My 2019 car is my trusted driving assistant. Beeping and even braking and steering warnings have saved my life or at least prevented an accident.
I have come to think of all of the bells and whistles in my car as my trusted car assistant. Could the beeping to warn me and even braking and steering if I failed have saved my life or at least prevented an accident? I think so!
Imagine my dismay when I turned on my 2019 car the other day, and the screen that told me everything was blank. No map. No time. No back-up camera. No temperature. No British guy telling me what to do (yes, I altered the voice I get to be male with a British accent). No nothing. Yikes!
Was I back in the 1950s? Where is my assistant driver?
OK, maybe not that far back. Maybe just the 2010s, as I still had side view mirrors on both sides of the car, seatbelts, an automatic transmission, and head restraints. Those safety things that 1950s and ‘60s cars did not have.
But I didn’t have the amazing automatic tech assistant I have come to expect and rely on.
I like that if I get distracted, like when I’m driving and I notice someone is adding onto their house or cutting down a tree or has put out Halloween decorations already (yes, several people have!), the car beeps me to attention and even will brake on its own if someone is slowing or stopping ahead of me.
And how about those automatic high and low beams? They are making me a much more considerate driver than I ever was. They automatically go to lower beams even if the car I’m following or the one approaching is only just on the horizon, way far ahead of me.
Sometimes, I think the “assistant” goes rogue.
Oh, and I mostly love it when I want to pass someone or move over after passing that my “assistant” beeps to tell me that someone is in my blind spot. I say “mostly” because I often have to chastise my car when the vehicle they are warning me about is actually two lanes away from me and they have scared me unnecessarily.
I’d say I have a love-hate relationship with the option to have the car signal when I have crossed over a line on the road, such as the center line or white line on the side of the road. I turn it off during the day as I feel it’s unnecessary then, but I love it at night, especially rainy nights, as it definitely helps when visibility isn’t the best it could be.
Using my phone while driving is a dream.
My favorites are the hands-free option to answer and talk on the phone or listen to and reply to a text message. How often do I suddenly remember that I should have called someone or sent a message when I’m on the road? Quite often. Of course, sometimes the messages are garbled or spelled completely wrong. Luckily, my friends know it’s not my fault. Like when I tried to tell my daughter that my car fobs had died. My British guy refused to comprehend fobs or died no matter how much I tried, so I finally just called.
But my actual favorite is the map and direction option.
Yes, to have the map fill the whole screen and reassure me that I am going in the right direction is very comforting. Love getting warned 10 miles, two miles, and even one mile ahead of when I need to make a turn. And so happy they’ve removed the disgusted “recalculating” you’d hear when you either missed the turn or decided to go another way.
Of course, the map and GPS are not foolproof. I live in Maine, and I don’t think they have the rural areas down pat. That was evident when driving in an unfamiliar small town looking for a specific address when my British guy directed me down a dirt road. He told me to leave and walk the rest when I reached the dead end. Huh? Luckily, I was able to find my way via actual road signs.
So, is it easier to drive now than in my mother’s day? Yes, definitely. I like that my assistant tells me what lane to stay in to avoid getting “sucked off,” which happened often to my mother. The only problem is there are still a lot of crazies out on the road that no amount of technology can help with.
I have to admit technology helps.
Since most of us travel by car more frequently than any other way, I highly recommend upgrading your car to one with all of this technology. Think about it -- especially if you get distracted easily and definitely if you’re of a certain age. It’s nice having a helper, if not alongside you, always in the car.
And, as for my screen and all its capabilities – it all came back the next time I turned on the car. It seems it was just updating. Whew – I didn’t enjoy that little bit of “back to the past” time travel.