Pilot Park Assist - Useful? Tips?

briguyny · Oct 21, 2021

I’ve had my 2021 T6 Inscription for just over 3 months at this point, and believe I’ve gotten good usefulness out of all of the features- except for the Pilot Park Assist.

I’ll admit it’s probably because I haven’t tried it enough, but just curious if anyone has any tips/tricks/gotchas with it? Areas where it seemingly saves the day, and other situations where it seems to struggle?

As I understand it, it’s really steering wheel control where as you’re still responsible for gas/brake.

Thank you!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

p07r0457 · Oct 21, 2021

If you’re good at parallel parking, then Pilot Park Assist will probably frustrate you. If you’re really bad at parallel parking, then Pilot Park Assist probably helps you park in situations where you’d otherwise just skip the spot to find another.

I generally just park manually, as I can do it faster. But when I have tried it, I found that it does best when I ride the brake and go as slow as possible. If you don’t ride the brake, then it tends to overshoot and do a bad job.

DFrantz · Oct 21, 2021

It's a pile of rubbish that exists so as sales folks I can tell people it's available when comparing to other brands so far as I'm concerned.

It does like when you're pretty close to the cars you're parking besides, which tends to be different than how I would normally approach a parking spot.

But it's not faster or better than a competent driver, and frankly, most people who could use it to their advantage are too scared to trust the system... but it does work.

TheDeep · Oct 21, 2021

The only two times I've parallel parked - I found traffic moving too fast to mess around with it. I just park like I always have.

Now the value in the feature will be obviously dependent on the vehicle operator's ability to parallel park in the first place. If they cannot do it, then the feature will allow access to parking in places where they could not previously have parked.

themane · Oct 21, 2021

Utterly and completely useless in my experience.

n a m · Oct 21, 2021

p07r0457 said:
If you’re good at parallel parking, then Pilot Park Assist will probably frustrate you. If you’re really bad at parallel parking, then Pilot Park Assist probably helps you park in situations where you’d otherwise just skip the spot to find another.

I generally just park manually, as I can do it faster. But when I have tried it, I found that it does best when I ride the brake and go as slow as possible. If you don’t ride the brake, then it tends to overshoot and do a bad job.

I agree with this assessment. I have it on both of my cars and have attempted to use it twice. I found it frustrating both times.

KnnNike · Oct 21, 2021

I'm not sure why all the hate...I'm very good at parallel parking, but this system has helped me get into tight spots that I otherwise would not have wasted my time on. A couple of caveats:

The responsiveness between individual steps in the park assist is super slow. So be sure you have your blinker or hazards on, because it will take you twice as long to park just because the system pauses in between steps. Like, it will take several seconds to "check for hazards" before telling me to put the car in reverse, that sort of thing. I haven't had a 'Seinfeld situation' yet with this...someone sneaking in from the back while I'm getting ready to back in, but I suppose that could be a risk.
For parallel parking, be sure to turn park assist on well in advance of the spot you're eyeing. It needs to scan the whole space, which I don't think it can do if any part of your car is already even with the space. Once or twice I've had to back up behind the space, turn on park assist, then proceed forward again.
Also for parallel parking, be sure to pay attention to which type of spot the system is searching for. Once or twice I've tried to have it scan a particularly tight spot, except it was apparently too small for parallel parking; however, rather than just not detect it as a viable spot, the system thought I wanted to perpendicular park instead. It was only after I started the parking process and my car started swinging around that I realized what was happening. There's a small area at the top of the screen while the scan is operating that tells you whether parallel or perpendicular spots have been found.
I haven't tried to use it for perpendicular parking because...well, I think you have to be pretty bad at parking to need help with that. Most places don't have painted lines for parallel parking, so it's more of a value in those situations with uneven gaps

So I think it's just like with any technology...you need to set your expectations to the designed functionality of the system. Once you understand the limitations, it's actually pretty smooth to use. But if you've used it a couple of times and continue to expect it to act as quickly as a live human being, you will be frustrated. Also, sometimes I just parallel park manually if the space is large. But I also always have it on with guests in the car, because it elicits all sorts of oohs and ahhs. 😄😄

VxF · Oct 21, 2021

DFrantz said:
It's a pile of rubbish

This.

BigBang · Oct 21, 2021

Totally useless function, maybe for those who do not know how to park, but such people should not drive a car at all

Holeydonut · Oct 21, 2021

I actually want to learn how to permanently disable the PAS and anything related to PAS.

Every time I drive and pull up next to cars at a red light, the XC60 starts to tell me I'm near other cars or a median or something. And it starts chirp about obstacles near the vehicle when I start driving forward or making turns. Like WTF... this is so distracting to hear bings and boops and warning displays on the SENSUS when I'm just driving in traffic. I'm not near hazards; I'm just sitting in normal traffic. It gets worse in the rain where it'll just bing hazards for no flippin reason at all.

I get it that the feature is useful when pulling into a garage, tight parking spot, etc. But I'd rather manually turn it on if I felt it was necessary than have to manually turn it off every time I get in the car. But I can't seem to make PAS stay "off" no matter what I do in the settings, Individual Drive Mode, etc.

328211 · Oct 21, 2021

TheDeep said:
The only two times I've parallel parked - I found traffic moving too fast to mess around with it. I just park like I always have.

This. If I get a automatic cross traffic detection ABS brake slam when trying to reverse on a busy street totally safely one more time I might flip. The auto parking suffers from this same over sensitivity and is useless in cities.

MFinMN · Oct 21, 2021

I agree with most others here. I've found it to be completely useless in my S90. Granted I live in the suburbs and rarely, if ever, parallel park. I also hate the Parking sensors in general in my Volvo. I find that the darn sensors start sending up alerts anytime that I go through a drive-through restaurant or the bank's drive-through or even when I am parking my car in the garage. I know what the front, rear and sides of my car are near and hate it when these things go off. If I'm unsure about something, I just turn on my 360 camera and I can see everything near my vehicle. Is there a way to permanently turn off these sensors in the Sensus settings menus?

KnnNike · Oct 21, 2021

cowfootball said:
This. If I get a automatic cross traffic detection ABS brake slam when trying to reverse on a busy street totally safely one more time I might flip. The auto parking suffers from this same over sensitivity and is useless in cities.

I've had my XC60 while living in the city centers of both Detroit and Washington, DC, where tens of thousands of people live and work within a few miles. I've found it extremely useful for tight parallel parking spots, as well as for backing out...several times it has saved me from someone speeding by, not paying attention.

spas1 · Oct 21, 2021

I have only tried it once. Not knowing how to used it I assumed it was 100% automated (i.e. braking). I lined up next to a spot and selected the parallel park and let go of the brake. Needless to say the car back right into the curb.

VertigoXC60 · Oct 22, 2021

KnnNike said:
I'm not sure why all the hate...I'm very good at parallel parking, but this system has helped me get into tight spots that I otherwise would not have wasted my time on. A couple of caveats:

The responsiveness between individual steps in the park assist is super slow. So be sure you have your blinker or hazards on, because it will take you twice as long to park just because the system pauses in between steps. Like, it will take several seconds to "check for hazards" before telling me to put the car in reverse, that sort of thing. I haven't had a 'Seinfeld situation' yet with this...someone sneaking in from the back while I'm getting ready to back in, but I suppose that could be a risk.

For parallel parking, be sure to turn park assist on well in advance of the spot you're eyeing. It needs to scan the whole space, which I don't think it can do if any part of your car is already even with the space. Once or twice I've had to back up behind the space, turn on park assist, then proceed forward again.

Also for parallel parking, be sure to pay attention to which type of spot the system is searching for. Once or twice I've tried to have it scan a particularly tight spot, except it was apparently too small for parallel parking; however, rather than just not detect it as a viable spot, the system thought I wanted to perpendicular park instead. It was only after I started the parking process and my car started swinging around that I realized what was happening. There's a small area at the top of the screen while the scan is operating that tells you whether parallel or perpendicular spots have been found.

I haven't tried to use it for perpendicular parking because...well, I think you have to be pretty bad at parking to need help with that. Most places don't have painted lines for parallel parking, so it's more of a value in those situations with uneven gaps

So I think it's just like with any technology...you need to set your expectations to the designed functionality of the system. Once you understand the limitations, it's actually pretty smooth to use. But if you've used it a couple of times and continue to expect it to act as quickly as a live human being, you will be frustrated. Also, sometimes I just parallel park manually if the space is large. But I also always have it on with guests in the car, because it elicits all sorts of oohs and ahhs. 😄😄

100% agree with all these points!

I don't use it often but I've used it a couple of times to get into particularly tight spots and it worked beautifully!

Afrosheen · Oct 27, 2021

I'd recommend testing in an area with foam curbs and cardboard boxes for the other cars. The one time I tried it, it was backing in and jammed a 20" rim straight into a foot tall curb. It was sickening, because it doesn't tell you to ride the brake, it just steers.

I'll never trust it again.

GlobalServices · Oct 27, 2021

I have it both on our XC90 and XC40, and I would say it's pretty useless. The problem is it just never finds a parking space, and when it does for parallel parking you have to drive so far past the spot, the car behind does not even know you are trying to parallel park and is close to your rear so you can't reverse. You can't even blame the other driver!

It is nice when pulling out of a tight spot, as it does give you more awareness of the soundings as the car does the steering.

Afrosheen · Oct 27, 2021

MFinMN said:
I agree with most others here. I've found it to be completely useless in my S90. Granted I live in the suburbs and rarely, if ever, parallel park. I also hate the Parking sensors in general in my Volvo. I find that the darn sensors start sending up alerts anytime that I go through a drive-through restaurant or the bank's drive-through or even when I am parking my car in the garage. I know what the front, rear and sides of my car are near and hate it when these things go off. If I'm unsure about something, I just turn on my 360 camera and I can see everything near my vehicle. Is there a way to permanently turn off these sensors in the Sensus settings menus?

I don't know about permanently disabling it but there's a button to disable PAS when you get in and start up.

vlvownr · Oct 27, 2021

Even though I can easily parrel park in the narrowest European streets, I sometimes use the park assist feature. I find it especially useful in a situation where there is a really tight spot that you don't want to bother trying to squeeze into manually. It was weird and uncomfortable at first since the car has to drive up a certain distance before it detects the spot and alerts you, but once you've practiced a bit, it becomes easy. It won't work on really busy streets (NYC, for example) where there is traffic and impatient drivers behind you.

davsanto · Oct 27, 2021

briguyny said:
I’ve had my 2021 T6 Inscription for just over 3 months at this point, and believe I’ve gotten good usefulness out of all of the features- except for the Pilot Park Assist.

I’ll admit it’s probably because I haven’t tried it enough, but just curious if anyone has any tips/tricks/gotchas with it? Areas where it seemingly saves the day, and other situations where it seems to struggle?

As I understand it, it’s really steering wheel control where as you’re still responsible for gas/brake.

Thank you!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I have it never use it

Pilot Park Assist - Useful? Tips?

briguyny

p07r0457

DFrantz

TheDeep

themane

n a m

KnnNike

VxF

BigBang

Holeydonut

328211

MFinMN

KnnNike

spas1

VertigoXC60

Afrosheen

GlobalServices

Afrosheen

vlvownr

davsanto

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