I stalled the hire car three times in twenty minutes.

I was running late due to a delayed flight and I had a meeting planned for the same day.

I collected the hire car, took the required photographs of the car exterior, then took the stress out of the situation and called ahead to say I was going to be late and headed out from the airport vehicle hire depot.  

The hire car was almost brand new, under 3000 miles, still smelling of that just out of the factory newness.

At the first junction the car shuddered to a halt; the muscle memory had not quite kicked in as I realised I was not driving my customary automatic and I now had a manual clutch to operate.

On top of that there were beeps and dashboard indicators intermittently going off that seemed unrelated to the general car operation and the steering was definitely a little odd.

Common sense finally prevailed a few miles down the road and I pulled over on to the hard shoulder of the M11 motorway to figure out what was the matter with my hire car.

The doors were all firmly shut, temperature good, oil was ok. I got out, tyres seemed ok, checked the boot was shut....all good and set off again as the rain started to fall.

I constantly use cruise control, but couldn't figure out how it worked on a manual gearbox and to be honest it was 4pm on a Friday afternoon, I was joining the London bound traffic and no-one in their right mind would even remotely contemplate cruise control on pretty much any of our congested motorways in the UK unless driving very early (and nowhere near the M25) or late when there is a clear road ahead of you.

I had attempted to pair my phone with the in car system, but someone was calling me on Whatsapp which I didn't know how to answer.........I gave up.

There was a time when you hired a vehicle and it had a radio, four or maybe five gears, you adjusted your seat, tweaked the mirror, and set off relishing the chance to drive a newer car than your own, and maybe, just maybe, if the hire car you had booked was unavailable you got a complimentary upgrade to a more expensive model.
 

My Hire Car had "Forward-Collision Avoidance".

The EU initiated advanced Safety features such as intelligent speed assistance and advanced emergency-braking system in 2019 with a deadline of May 2022 for implementation in all new vehicles which has not been affected by Brexit.
 

The UK Government’s 2025 Vision for CAM (Connected and Automated Mobility) is that by 2025, the UK will begin to see deployments of self-driving vehicles.

So the attention grabbing alarms and alien symbols flashing on the car dashboard heralded my introduction to the new driver assist technology.

The latest tried and tested technology to contribute to the driving experience and safety first announces it's capability if you drive too close to the markings in the middle of the road, or the lane demarcation on the motorway.

No drama, but it steered itself..

The car alarm system goes off and auto steering kicks in to very subtly auto-correct or re-align the car steering to prevent you from drifting over that line if you have not indicated. This also happens if you are doing a "too" gentle lane change on the motorway.

This is the "Lane Departure Warning System" that notifies the driver when the car starts drifting out of a lane without driver’s consent.

After a bit of investigation ( a few clicks of the mouse in fact) it turns out that the Lane Departure Warning System" (LDW) is the first of three stages.

Stage 1: Lane Departure Warning System

Is the first of which which consists of audible warnings or a vibration of the steering wheel, and a flashing signal on the dash.

Different car manufacturers have varying features which are evolving incrementally.
Taking the Honda as an example the LDW system can be turned on or off on the dashboard.
Despite being in "active" mode It will not deploy in bad weather, nor if the brakes are applied or if you are indicating that you are turning or merging.
The effectiveness and accuracy of the system is impacted by the weather, the car speed and the condition of the road.

Meanwhile if you have hired a Ford vehicle, you may benefit from the "Ford Co-Pilot360™ Technology" where, if you have drifted off and the LDW has kicked in a few times, a coffee cup symbol appears on the car dashboard suggesting that you might want to take a break.

Stage 2: Lane Keep Assisted systems (LKAS)

These systems actually steer the car to keep a central position between lane markings by applying a small amount of steering to stop the vehicle from leaving its lane.

Is it Hands Free?

Don't rely on it 100%, it is not a driver substitute and the car manufacturer is at pains to state that the systems are not designed to drive the vehicle autonomously.

If you take your hands off the wheel then the system will cut out.

On some systems it automatically cuts out under 30mph, so if you are driving anywhere in central London where the speed limit is 20mph you will get no assistance at all. 

If the road markings become obscure as a result of weather conditions such as snow or simply need repainting or if the car is on a tight bend then the Lane Keep Assist system (LKAS) automatically suspends itself. 

Stage 3: Emergency Lane Keeping (ELK) system

This will actually apply a large steering input if it senses a car is about to run off the road.

If the in built car sensors determine that you are getting too close to a car in front, the dashboard displays the LDW symbol, emits an audible alert and / or vibrates the rim of the steering wheel.

This particular trait is part of the "Autonomous Emergency Braking System" which is a smart safety system that constantly monitors the road.
It detects pedestrians and other vehicles, activating the emergency braking in case of imminent collision and also over rides the cruise control.

Whilst it never actually deployed the brakes at any point during the period I hired the car for, it's audible alarms were a tad intrusive.

The benefits cannot be denied if the driver becomes distracted or begins to nod off.

• Check whether the hire car is petrol or diesel and which side of the car is the fuel cap.

• Record the fuel level and mileage (take a picture)

• Familiarise your self with the radio controls, heating and air-conditioning, windscreen wipers, light switches, indicators, hazard lights and internal central door locking mechanism.

• Does it actually have a spare wheel (lots of new cars don't) and what do you do in the case of a puncture.
• Set up your hands free phone and test it whilst stationary and find the phone charger point.
• Set up your destination in the sat nav.
   
• There was a marked slow down in vehicle hire companies replacing their fleets during the pandemic, but if the vehicle you have hired is registered from May 2022 then check out the Lane Departure Warning systems before you depart.

• If you are a fan of cruise control, figure out the settings so you don't have to struggle with them whilst driving. Some of the controls seem at first to be overly complex and the buttons and indicators vary not only between manufacturers, but also between vehicles with  manual and automatic gearboxes, not particularly intuitive.
   
• Adjust the seat position to suit you and then adjust the rear-view and wing mirrors.

•  Bags and baggage; If you have to brake sharply, are there any unsecured items either behind or adjacent to you that will compromise you? 
   
• Reaching for your phone that has tumbled into the footwell can result in your concentration wavering....