How To Use Cruise Control Properly

As technology grows all around us, new and new things are being developed every single day. Flying cars are just around the corner. However, before the flying cars are available for public use, there would first be self-autonomous or self-driving cars which require little to no input from the human and can drive safely and responsibly. Self-driving cars are still being improved but there is no proper one made yet that can be driven without any kind of human input. This is because science and technology are still not able to create an artificial intelligence system that is able to make important decisions and value one thing over the other. Although enough data can be provided to the system to learn from it but it is not truly “intelligent” if it does not have the power to make decisions based on its own gut and not from the available data. Cruise control is the first level of self-autonomous cars.

What is the meaning of cruise control?

Put simply, cruise control is a system where the car controls the speed of the vehicle after the user sets it a specific level. Other than that, cruise control does nothing else. It does not control the direction of your vehicle, it does not reduce the speed of the vehicle, and it certainly does not take control of anything else. Recently, a new type of cruise control called “adaptive cruise control” has been introduced that takes control of the speed and also reduces it in order to keep a safe distance from the vehicle in front of the vehicle of the user. Nonetheless, the rules and procedure for using cruise control, whether adaptive or conventional, remains the same.

Why use cruise control?

Using auto cruise control in-car has many advantages. The advantages are the only reason you should be using cruise control since it is not a necessity or a requirement. You should use cruise control because:

1-  It saves time. Since the vehicle controls the speed automatically, you need not interrupt it unless there is an absolute danger and when the speed is constant, the time will be saved.

2- It makes you relaxed. Keeping the feet off the speed pedal is relaxing and prevents driver fatigue.

3- It saves fuel. With no irregular increase and decrease in the speed of the vehicle, fuel consumption is lowered as the engine adapts to it and that surely helps in saving the fuel.

4- It lets you multi-task… to some extent. Since the speed is being controlled by the vehicle, you can go ahead and use your phone for about a second or two but nothing more than that since you would need to constantly monitor the road ahead of you for any potential imminent dangers.

Cruise Control Rules:

1- As mentioned earlier, no matter what type of cruise control your car has, the rules of engagement remain the same. These rules must be followed and are pretty easy to understand since they are a part of everyone’s common sense. These rules are:

2- Never use cruise control at a crowded area. Wherever the traffic is in a huge amount, you should refrain from using cruise control since there might be a lot of times when you have to apply the brakes, hence, it is better to just not use the cruise control.

3- Using cruise control in the rain, snow, fog, or any kind of severe weather conditions should be strictly prohibited. These conditions pose a great risk and should never ever be taken lightly.

4- Always keep your eyes on the road and never lose your senses. Do not get distracted while using cruise control, this just controls the speed, not the car. Remember that.

5- It is best to use cruise control on highways. On small roads, it is quite difficult to control.

How to use cruise control?

Cruise control is really easy to use! All you have to do is get to know the buttons that control the cruise control on your vehicle. Usually, they are located on the side of your steering wheel. These buttons will be +, - (or Up, Down or Increase, Decrease) and Set, Resume (or their icons). You will have to refer to your owner’s manual to learn about them, or you can check online on your manufacturer’s website.

Once you are familiar with the buttons, it is time to step into the game of cruise controlling. Follow the steps mentioned below to activate it:

1- Most of the vehicles have a “cruise” (or “cruise control”) button on them which activates/disables the cruise control. You have to press the button in order to start it and when you are done, just press it again and it will disable it. Cruise Control sign or message will appear on the speedometer, just like a door-open or low-fuel sign does.

2- Once you have pressed the button, drive your car and increase its speed to your desired one. When you have reached that speed, press the “SET” button on the control panel. This will save the speed and keep the vehicle at it till you press brake or disable cruise control some other way.

3- If you have temporarily disabled the cruise control, you can get back to it through the “resume” button.

That’s it! However, you should also know how to and what disables the cruise control:

1- Pressing the brakes or clutch at any time disables the cruise control.

2- Pressing the cruise control button on the panel disables it.

3- Choosing the unset or reset option (if there is one) will also disable cruise control and remove the saved speed.

Can you add cruise control to a vehicle?

Well yes, but actually no. It is a really complicated process and although it can be done, you would need to have a really good engineer at your disposal or be one yourself in order to achieve it. Also, it would cost a lot to fit a cruise control system into a vehicle. Ask yourself, is it really worth it?

Cruise control dangers:

Although the system is pretty efficient, it poses some risks and dangers to the user. A few dangers associated with cruise control are lack of responsiveness (where the system halts or freezes), invalid user response (user might get confused and take a wrong step), or even bugging of cruise control and it increasing or decreasing the speed of the vehicle against the will of the user. These dangers, however, have been controlled so much that they do not happen these days. There are kill switches and safety maneuvers in place even in case they happen.

All in all, however, cruise control is a really amazing invention and helps ease a lot of trouble. If you want to learn about driving or want to prepare for your driving exam, check out Easy Driving Test for detailed preparation in a really short time.