driver69
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- Oct 15, 2022
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- Location
- Ukraine
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- Taycan Turbo S 2021
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This is my short review of the Night View Assist option and whether you should spec one for your vehicle as well. My current place of residence is in Kyiv, Ukraine. Considering recent developments, our electrical infrastructure has been severely damaged and as a result - street lighting is only available 20% of the time, in rural areas it’s even less than that. NVA has already helped me avoid potential collisions with pedestrians walking across the road in pitch dark wearing black clothes.
What exactly is NVA?
Night View Assist equips your vehicle with a thermal imaging camera in the front bumper that provides a thermal image of the surroundings, which can be displayed on the instrument cluster. The system can detect persons and animals beyond the area illuminated by the headlights and highlight these in the camera image. Night View Assist detects persons and animals when it is sufficiently dark and at an ambient temperature of under 28 °C. (Description from the Porsche Taycan Owners Manual(PTOM))
In my experience, it works well even during daylight when it’s reasonably cold: -5C(40F) or less. It manages to detect pedestrians and large animals really well in those conditions. Temperatures above that (during daylight) will trigger a warning that the system is not able to reliably detect pedestrians or animals.
Night View Assist offers the following functions:
Pedestrian warning:
If the system detects a possible collision with a pedestrian, it can warn the driver by means of a warning tone and an appropriate display in the instrument cluster on the vehicle speed range up to 250 km/h (156 mph). The camera image is displayed with the person marked in red. The pedestrian warning is output if a pedestrian is standing or moving onto the driving lane. On vehicles with LED-Matrix headlights, the endangered person is flashed at in order to enhance recognition. (PTOM)
Talking about the situation when the endangered person is flashed at by LED Matrix headlights, it caught me off-guard a few times when there was not any danger of an imminent collision, just a random pedestrian walking down the street. (He probably thought "Why the hell is that jerk flashing" )
Nevertheless, it also saved me twice already, as mentioned above. The pedestrian in danger is highlighted by a very bright, precisely focused square beam of light and can be seen VERY clearly, thus allowing you to either apply full brake pressure or swerve out of his way. People are oftentimes negligent of their own safety and refuse or just do not want to invest 2 Euros into the cheapest possible reflective vest despite numerous recommendations from local authorities.
Animal warning :
I haven not yet encountered any big animals (and hopefully I won’t), so I don’t really have anything to share here in this regard. Dogs/cats/etc can be seen on the screen as well, but they will not be highlighted by the system.
Fun fact - you won’t be able to play hide and seek with your friends, as the system automatically turns off if you switch the headlights off.
Conclusion:
Night View Assist comes as an optional feature and costs 84,000 UAH in my region (approx. 2,115 EUR) and is quite expensive. In my case during these times it is practically invaluable. Night View Assist saved 2 souls from being ran over and potentially killed, saved me from facing jail time and costly compensations to the relatives of potential victims. Driving the speed limit is almost suicidal without any street lights, but with this system I can comfortably drive around town and highways while maintaining exceptional situational awareness on the road and see pedestrians far beyond the range of headlights.
Should you get one? It depends when and where you drive, of course. You know your area best and decide for yourself if it is worth the investment, my job here was to describe it to the best of my abilities. It is also a cool feature to show off to your friends and family, as well as tell which car has just departed and which one has been on the road for a while now Cheers
What exactly is NVA?
Night View Assist equips your vehicle with a thermal imaging camera in the front bumper that provides a thermal image of the surroundings, which can be displayed on the instrument cluster. The system can detect persons and animals beyond the area illuminated by the headlights and highlight these in the camera image. Night View Assist detects persons and animals when it is sufficiently dark and at an ambient temperature of under 28 °C. (Description from the Porsche Taycan Owners Manual(PTOM))
In my experience, it works well even during daylight when it’s reasonably cold: -5C(40F) or less. It manages to detect pedestrians and large animals really well in those conditions. Temperatures above that (during daylight) will trigger a warning that the system is not able to reliably detect pedestrians or animals.
Night View Assist offers the following functions:
Pedestrian warning:
If the system detects a possible collision with a pedestrian, it can warn the driver by means of a warning tone and an appropriate display in the instrument cluster on the vehicle speed range up to 250 km/h (156 mph). The camera image is displayed with the person marked in red. The pedestrian warning is output if a pedestrian is standing or moving onto the driving lane. On vehicles with LED-Matrix headlights, the endangered person is flashed at in order to enhance recognition. (PTOM)
Talking about the situation when the endangered person is flashed at by LED Matrix headlights, it caught me off-guard a few times when there was not any danger of an imminent collision, just a random pedestrian walking down the street. (He probably thought "Why the hell is that jerk flashing" )
Nevertheless, it also saved me twice already, as mentioned above. The pedestrian in danger is highlighted by a very bright, precisely focused square beam of light and can be seen VERY clearly, thus allowing you to either apply full brake pressure or swerve out of his way. People are oftentimes negligent of their own safety and refuse or just do not want to invest 2 Euros into the cheapest possible reflective vest despite numerous recommendations from local authorities.
Animal warning :
I haven not yet encountered any big animals (and hopefully I won’t), so I don’t really have anything to share here in this regard. Dogs/cats/etc can be seen on the screen as well, but they will not be highlighted by the system.
Fun fact - you won’t be able to play hide and seek with your friends, as the system automatically turns off if you switch the headlights off.
Conclusion:
Night View Assist comes as an optional feature and costs 84,000 UAH in my region (approx. 2,115 EUR) and is quite expensive. In my case during these times it is practically invaluable. Night View Assist saved 2 souls from being ran over and potentially killed, saved me from facing jail time and costly compensations to the relatives of potential victims. Driving the speed limit is almost suicidal without any street lights, but with this system I can comfortably drive around town and highways while maintaining exceptional situational awareness on the road and see pedestrians far beyond the range of headlights.
Should you get one? It depends when and where you drive, of course. You know your area best and decide for yourself if it is worth the investment, my job here was to describe it to the best of my abilities. It is also a cool feature to show off to your friends and family, as well as tell which car has just departed and which one has been on the road for a while now Cheers