Jaguar Cars of Coventry is improving automatic cruise control (GB 2 328 542).
Conventional controls let the driver set the car’s speed at a comfortable limit,
then sit back without touching the accelerator. The car may also be equipped
with a “follow mode” that uses radar to sense the speed of the vehicle ahead,
and reduce the cruise speed to keep a fixed distance. But this interferes with
overtaking, because the car will slow down just when the driver needs to
accelerate. The new system will have a third mode which warns the driver when
the car is preparing to switch from cruise to follow mode. This gives the driver
time to overtake if the road is clear.
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