How good is ALK?

[skunkman]

I am fed up with the lack of Tesla support and the quality of the vehicle and am leaning towards a Taycan. I drive about 120 miles a day for work and often use the Tesla automation. I don't have the car exit or change lanes just auto lane keep. I have had 4 911s in my day and miss the Porsche driving experience. I do like the ALK feature of the Tesla and was wondering if it is reliable on the Taycan? Not expecting my car to be FSD by any means.

Thanks
Keith

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[XLR82XS]

Not bad. Definitely more useful on highway vs. city streets. Seems to be too aggessive on surface streets when I need to move slightly onto the stripe to avoid a "text-n-driver" or in construction areas.

(I had a 2020 Tesla with AP)

 

[riburn3]

Be prepared for an inferior software experience if coming from a Tesla.

That said, I like ALK. I have a 40 mile one way interstate commute and am also someone that likes to be in control most of the time. ALK I find does a better job of helping you keep the lane without a very heavy hand like Tesla. You still have control of the car, but if you start to drift it will give you a little nudge back into the lane that isn't overbearing.

 

[jontybutts]

Be prepared for a great driving experience and build quality if coming from a Tesla, it’s a bit of a shock to the system…..

 

[DerekS]

Let me be as clear as possible about ALK:

It is nowhere NEAR trustworthy, and does not compare to Tesla autopilot.

If it can't see the lane markers, it silently stops working and the car drifts. This can be an extremely dangerous situation if you're not paying full attention at all times.

Tesla's system I trust well enough to divert attention briefly.

 

[Todd Rose]

+1 to what Derek said. I wouldn’t trade my Taycan for anything, but my wife’s Tesla is superior in terms of software and auto pilot features. But I’ll take the build quality and driving experience and hope for increasingly better software and assist features.

 

[dickp]

Also if you get ACC, you can add ALK via FOD & try it out without having to purchase or rent it.

 

[vatsav]

Also if you get ACC, you can add ALK via FOD & try it out without having to purchase or rent it.

I plan to do this. Get just ACC initially, try it out and then get ALK. I most likely don't want Porsche inno drive

 

[356B]

i downloaded ALK as a FOD and have been evaluating it. Generally, I think it is pretty smooth and dependable (comparing to my Volvo V90 similar ALK). However, I just noticed that if ALK is disengaged, it still monitors steering wheel input and if you don't have to move the steering wheel for a short period (again, ALK is turned off, lane departure is turned on), the car will decelerate and give you a red warning in the left tube. It is not dangerous, but it is very disconcerting. I turned off the check mark next to ALK in the driver assist menu, and I no longer get warned about steering input. During this warning, I was completely in charge of steering.

I would suggest to Porsche that if ALK is disengaaged, all of it SHOULD BE DISENGAGED, otherwise they need to dial up the gain in steering input to rcognize you are still holding the steering wheel. Just another software tweak if they are listening.

 

[Windpower]

Tesla's system I trust well enough to divert attention briefly.

Briefly is the operative word. I have used auto steer on my 2021 Tesla model Y maybe 5 minutes per week over the last year and I have had two very scary experiences: one where the car stopped steering unexpectedly and I had to take over immediately and one where the car braked hard unexpectedly. I don't trust the Tesla auto steer so I was able to take over and no harm was done.

The other thing which is maddening about the Tesla is lane departure warning and active lane keep: sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, sometimes it steers back into the lane and sometimes it lets you go right over the lane marking into an adjacent lane. My car is in the shop now because of an accident I had which should not have happened had the Tesla accident avoidance worked.

 

[atebit]

I think it’s generally OK. I don’t like the “silent disengagement” behavior mentioned above, but I do like that it doesn’t RIP the steering wheel out of your hands like my M3 did.

However I will say that I’m driving a rented Golf this week and I think the lane keeping on that is superior to both the Taycan & the M3.

 

[menzz]

i downloaded ALK as a FOD and have been evaluating it. Generally, I think it is pretty smooth and dependable (comparing to my Volvo V90 similar ALK). However, I just noticed that if ALK is disengaged, it still monitors steering wheel input and if you don't have to move the steering wheel for a short period (again, ALK is turned off, lane departure is turned on), the car will decelerate and give you a red warning in the left tube. It is not dangerous, but it is very disconcerting. I turned off the check mark next to ALK in the driver assist menu, and I no longer get warned about steering input. During this warning, I was completely in charge of steering.

I would suggest to Porsche that if ALK is disengaaged, all of it SHOULD BE DISENGAGED, otherwise they need to dial up the gain in steering input to rcognize you are still holding the steering wheel. Just another software tweak if they are listening.

I’m still waiting for my car but my phone precious car was a Volvo XC60. I remember it’s “autopilot” the car used to bounce more than I would have liked in the lane, not really keeping it straight. I usually turn it on when driving on the highway with me always maintaining the straight line by steering. XC60 probably required more steering input than the v90, just because it’s higher. Overall, I was ok with the Volvo “autopilot” so if the Taycan is better, that’s good enough for me.
FYI, I test drove a model y and turned on the autopilot but every time you control the steerint, the autopilot will shut off automatically which I didn’t like.

 

[dickp]

i downloaded ALK as a FOD and have been evaluating it. Generally, I think it is pretty smooth and dependable (comparing to my Volvo V90 similar ALK). However, I just noticed that if ALK is disengaged, it still monitors steering wheel input and if you don't have to move the steering wheel for a short period (again, ALK is turned off, lane departure is turned on), the car will decelerate and give you a red warning in the left tube. It is not dangerous, but it is very disconcerting. I turned off the check mark next to ALK in the driver assist menu, and I no longer get warned about steering input. During this warning, I was completely in charge of steering.

I would suggest to Porsche that if ALK is disengaaged, all of it SHOULD BE DISENGAGED, otherwise they need to dial up the gain in steering input to rcognize you are still holding the steering wheel. Just another software tweak if they are listening.

I can't figure out how to download ALK via. FOD for my MY22 CT4. Can you tell me how to do it? See my post at - https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/t...-adding-features-via-function-on-demand.7851/

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