I hate traffic and I get to spend about 1.5 hrs a day usually in some. High on my list of things a car could have that would encourage me to get a new one is an actually functioning cruise system that would allow me to just keep the wheel straight and let it do its thing. Are we there yet?
bonus points if said vehicles are actually affordable and get decent mpg or are hybrid/plugin (sadly i can't justify a tesla S lol)
Sorry, but if you don't want to be that bothered by having to pay attention to traffic, and pilot your vehicle yourself, take the bus.
Actually, no, I'm not sorry. 
I spend roughly 2 hours per day in DC beltway rush hour traffic. I find the best cruise control is this:
Cruise control is for open highways. If you're in busy traffic with a million other commuters who are texting, weaving, eating breakfast, etc......do us all a favor and keep your feet on the pedals.
Else carpool with someone else who is going to control their own car.
I'm not advocating my not being present or paying attention. It would just be nice to not have to be constantly tapping brakes and gas. As soon as self driving cars become a thing I will happily use one for commuting, its not like that is the same as a fun driving experience in my miata or autocross or a canyon drive etc. I actually think the roads will be safer with a lot of these people not being in control of their vehicles and letting the computers sort it out.
I'm asking if the tech is there (since Tesla for example claims its cars are ready for autopilot but are disabled due to legal reasons) for maintaining safe distance to the car ahead in a traffic environment that includes a change of speed.
The answer is no. There is no tech that can safely do it in constantly-changing commuting traffic in my opinion, no matter what Tesla claims. Sure, it can definitely keep you a distance from the car in front of you, provided that everyone is nicely staying in their lanes and not doing anything dumb. Does that ever happen in commuting traffic? Not that I've ever seen - maybe your area is different.
Picture that your adaptive C/C is keeping you a "safe" distance back (what, 50 feet?). In this area, you leave 50 feet between you and the car in front of you, that 50 feet will instantly be filled by 3 other cars from other lanes....then your C/C will brake hard, drop back, and it will happen again. And then when that one shiny happy person in the lane over spills his coffee and weaves toward your front fender, your C/C won't see that until he's already hit you - while with your feet "ready" you'd be able to brake-check to avoid him. sure, you could swerve since you're still steering....but there's another car to your right....
Sure, the tech is there to simply maintain a distance from a car in front of you. That's just a linear radar or laser. The problem is when things that aren't directly in front of you require an instant braking action. Half of driving in traffic is anticipating what the other cars are going to do by watching how they're driving. Sorry, no computer can do that, IMO.
Adaptive C/C is great if you're doing a long-haul highway trip in spaced-out traffic. Where people are mostly maintaining speed and lanes and not trying to cross 3 lanes to exit or enter or get to work faster ;)
I've never had a car with it (lucky to have ones with cruise control lol) so wasn't sure what it was capable of/what it was good for.
I hate cruise control. Conditions change, traffic ebbs and flows, etc. etc. There is a need to modify your speed all the time. I hate cruise control.
The tech is mostly there but it is neither affordable nor foolproof. https://youtu.be/X0FgFUcS4n0
Also a friend of mine used to have a 2008 s550 with that feature. Not as advanced as the one in the video but it did bring the car to a complete stop the couple of times I tried it--but I had my foot hovering over the brake pedal the whole time. Two things about it bothered me. It braked rather late and hard and secondly, it took too long to start moving on its own after traffic resumed. I definately did not trust and did not use it in bumper to bumper traffic. But on highways, and country roads it worked quite well, even braking if I reduced the speed by large margins with thr cruise stalk(55-35/40mph). I also think some of the W220s had that feature . They are affordable now if you can deal with the maintenance.
Always go 1mph slower than the car in front of you. My goal in traffic is to never stop, even if I have to crawl on idle. Yes, a few people might cut in on you, but everyone behind you will be much happier. You save gas and your clutch, it helps keep the engine temps down, and because of that there's less of a strain on your battery to run the electric fans.
Watch a big truck in traffic. they choose a slightly slower speed and stick to it for good reason.
As somebody who deals with traffic.. I understand your angst. I use my CC more than just the open highway.. but even there, I still get the occasionally distracted driver who just pulls in front of me and makes me hit the brakes.. so in that case, yes, the new CCs with the traffic matching and braking would be a godsend.
Sadly, I only think they come in some of the more high end cars
mr2peak wrote: Always go 1mph slower than the car in front of you. My goal in traffic is to never stop, even if I have to crawl on idle. Yes, a few people might cut in on you, but everyone behind you will be much happier. You save gas and your clutch, it helps keep the engine temps down, and because of that there's less of a strain on your battery to run the electric fans. Watch a big truck in traffic. they choose a slightly slower speed and stick to it for good reason.
Yeah I do this. But at least in my area of socal we still get a lot of rubberbanding to a complete stop for no reason.
mr2peak wrote: Watch a big truck in traffic. they choose a slightly slower speed and stick to it for good reason.
when I drove commercial, I would do that. Drop it down to low range and 1st and just chug along at an idle barely moving. Was easier on the truck, the clutch, and my clutch leg.
I do the hold a slow constant speed thing. If needed, you can ride the brakes rolling in 1st to slow down a little more.
The one in my i3 is darn near perfect. I can go 50-60 miles on the the freeway without touching the pedal. I only use it is stop and go under 30mph though as it does a better job saving the batteries then I can. It is spooky good at 65+, I swear the thing even slows down preemptively when it knows that there is road work or something in traffic that shows up on the navigation.
Not cheap but really really good.
In reply to wearymicrobe:Of course I am assuming you still look out the windshield. That is the real concern to me about the use of adaptive cruise control. Complacence kills, often innocent others.
My uncle who is fairly enthusiastic about performance cars really digs his Acuras systems. Loves the adaptive cruise and swears the lane holding feature makes staying in the center of the lane on twisty mountain roads a no effort event.
I second the idea of slowing down and leaving a ton of room. I do this in my work van. I never have to hit my brakes until I come to a light or a sign. Especially in construction zones. It's hilarious to watch ppl behind me go from furious to "oh! That's what he's doing!"
Rupert wrote: In reply to wearymicrobe:Of course I am assuming you still look out the windshield. That is the real concern to me about the use of adaptive cruise control. Complacence kills, often innocent others.
I do, I think I am more aware of my surroundings when it is on because while I know it has never made a mistake I am sure that if it does it will happen to me. Also my car has really aggressive regeneration which makes it a little harder to drive in stop and go traffic then I would like it to be and this helps. It also supposedly flashes the brake lights when someone gets to close.
Mine also has the reverse lasers as well, I think, and it knows when someone is coming up my butt and it will speed up to keep some distance between the car behind and mine. Like I said when it is running the car is spooky, that's the best term I can think of, it just kind of reacts to the cars around. If it could follow a lane on the freeway the thing could absolutely drive itself no problem.
Most of these replies make me want to beat my head into a wall.
I love watching out of towners in Atlanta try to play the game of keeping a large distance from the car in front. Others appreciate it, because it gives a perfect area to pull in front of you.
For those that think autonomous cruise control isn't coming, you are a moron. If you think you are a better driver than a computer with sensors scanning the environment at a pace your retinas couldn't imagine, you also fall into the above category. I love driving, but I would love to have some help when I'm sitting in traffic, or cruising down the highway. I'm excited for the future, and its coming.
To answer your question, Mazda has it on their new 3s and 6. Might be worth a test drive.
mr2peak wrote: Always go 1mph slower than the car in front of you. My goal in traffic is to never stop, even if I have to crawl on idle. Yes, a few people might cut in on you, but everyone behind you will be much happier. You save gas and your clutch, it helps keep the engine temps down, and because of that there's less of a strain on your battery to run the electric fans. Watch a big truck in traffic. they choose a slightly slower speed and stick to it for good reason.
Good to know at least one other person in this world gets it! 
I marvel at the drivers that will go WOT, blast around you, abruptly change lanes, then mash on the brakes, only to have you trundle past them at the next stoplight.
lnlogauge wrote: Most of these replies make me want to beat my head into a wall. I love watching out of towners in Atlanta try to play the game of keeping a large distance from the car in front. Others appreciate it, because it gives a perfect area to pull in front of you. For those that think autonomous cruise control isn't coming, you are a moron. If you think you are a better driver than a computer with sensors scanning the environment at a pace your retinas couldn't imagine, you also fall into the above category. I love driving, but I would love to have some help when I'm sitting in traffic, or cruising down the highway. I'm excited for the future, and its coming. To answer your question, Mazda has it on their new 3s and 6. Might be worth a test drive.
Agree with all of this. You know what doesn't get bored? A computer. It also doesn't get distracted. And has a reaction time better than any human. And it can see in 360 degrees as well as has sensory input no human has (radar, gps, night vision, etc.)
And thankfully, once it becomes commonplace, the rubberband stop-go-stop-go business will probably be eliminated.
I agree that has to be a better way. I love to drive when I can drive for fun (back road etc.) but comuting in and out of the city each day is no fun at all. I have tried the trains and they are worse. People packind in like sadreens. My stress level is even worse after that experience. What I have found is.
1 get an automatic trans car. Save the manual for the fun roads.
2 Get something that is comfortable. an easy chair on wheels that has very good sound deadening so you don't here all the outside noise.
3 make sure your Heating and cooling system are up to the task. Having a properly heated or cooled car while driving in rush hour traffic is so much better than boiling in the sun or freezing in 10 layers of clothing.
4 A decent sterio. Now the loudest but something that has at least 4 speakers. The sound deadening I noted befor is also a help for this.
5 I try and "do" something else. I pick a task and work on it while I am driving. Be it building the perfect chanenge car or coming up with some new weird braking system. IT does not matter what it is. Many a drive home I have found that I have not even turned the stereo on as I have been thinking. This also takes your mind of the task of the traffic you are stuck in.
6 The last and probably the most important thing is to leave your self more time than you need to get through the traffic and don't set artificial deadlines. When leaving the office at 6:00 I don't say dam it would be nice to be eating dinner at 7:00. that is an unrealistic expectation. Instead think how nice it will be to have a relaxing dinner at 8:00. Then when I get home at 7:30 I am actually early. Setting your self up for failure is bad. Setting your self up for success always makes for a better day.
I know not all of this is always doable but I do try and it has really made a difference in my life. I don't like the traffic I have to deal with every day but I have learned to make it better. I hope some day they come up with an autonomous vehicle or some sort of car train thing. I was even wondering one day while stuck in traffic if way in the future roads will actually move like giant conveyer belts and the cars will not actually move. Just drive on to the belt and then sit there in neutral until it is time to exit the highway.
Anyway just my thoughts in the subject.
Jaynen wrote: I'm not advocating my not being present or paying attention. It would just be nice to not have to be constantly tapping brakes and gas.
As a general rule of thumb, if you're not actively controlling something, then you won't be paying attention to it. It's actually easier for the mind to stay focused if you're doing something than just watching it.
The adaptive cruise in my wife's '15 Outback is pretty darned good. You can set following distance for a 1, 2, 3, or 4 second gap and let it go. The only time you have to touch the pedal is if the traffic actually comes to a full stop. If that happens you have to tap the gas to get moving again. If someone pulls into the gap it will detect the new obstruction and automatically slow (or actually brake) to reset the gap.
I do all that dean. I also have been a motorcyclist for years and am keenly aware of what's going on around me. Arguably more so than a lot of other people I am on the road with I imagine.
That is interesting to hear about the tech itself weary and clh.
I remember reading about an algorithm a guy was using on traffic that was using front and rear spacing to calculate it and it eliminated almost all congestion (re the rear laser thing)
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