THE much talked about Proton X50 has been teased for months on social media and a week ago the X50 started its tour around the country for Malaysians to get up close and personal with this future best seller from Proton.
At the media test drive event which was held this week at the Sepang Race Circuit, the engineers at Proton shared all the great selling points and features of the Proton X50 Crossover with all the attending motoring and business media.
Made for the tech-savvy buyer, the X50 comes with a range of smart features that brings greater convenience to the everyday driver.
One feature which comes only with the X50 Flagship model is the ‘Auto Park Assist’ which will actively control the accelerator, brakes, steering wheel and gear selection to help the driver into a parking space. The system will help maneuver the vehicle into a perpendicular parking spot as well as both into and out of a parallel parking space.
This feature is included in the Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) in the Flagship variant of the X50 which offers Level 2 semi-autonomous driving, with functions such as autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian detection, adaptive cruise control with stop and go, lane centering assist, lane keeping assist, auto high beam and blind spot monitoring with a door opening warning.
However, to our knowledge from family and friends who have bought cars with park assist in the past 6-7 years, this parking gimmick is great at the point of sale only, allowing some Malaysians who ‘bought’ their driving license to ‘think’ they can park their car much easier.
Then comes the problem of getting a parking spot that is actually not hindered by other parked vehicles around the available parking spot. At its left, right and rear there might be vehicles that have not stayed in their individual boxes (which is a common problem in Asia). The park assist technology only works when there is no hindrance as the software used assumes that all other drivers park in their boxes perfectly.
As we understand from most owners driving cars with the park assist feature which they paid for (and now never use) and were excited about during the initial showroom experience, after many failed attempts of using the part assist feature, as it takes times, it needs patience, it holds up traffic in crowded malls and street side parking during peak hours, they end up using their learnt parking skills to park their vehicles.
Also, with Malaysia having a facebook page that highlights ‘you park like an idiot’ growing fast in its popularity, this feature will hardly work and if you ‘bought’ your driving license, you will eventually be forced to learn to park your new tech-filled crossover by yourself.
So, can you park your own car ‘without’ the assistance of software, sensors and cameras? – The Vibes, October 2, 2020
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