I saw that Comma.AI is releasing V2 of their Level II self driving system. It's not yet compatible with the new RDX but I suspect it will be shortly. I don't like the idea of hanging this piece of hardware from my windshield, but given how disappointed I am with the LKAS, I'm actually thinking it might be worth upgrading for $1000 to at least have a decent system. Or... should I hold out to see if Acura comes out with an update to LKAS that actually makes it decent to use? Pisses me off a bit that I paid $40k for a car that can't even keep itself in the lane...

 

The current edition of Car&Driver has a review of the Cadillac, tesla and Comma.AI systems. They weren't very impressed with Comma.AI (or any of the systems for that matter). And Comma.AI says that it isn't compatible with the RDX.

 

Waiting for it to be compatible as the stock system is horrendous compared to like a Tesla autopilot.

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BFD deal has has the comma ai listed as supported for our cars. Whose taken or going to take the dive?

 

Thanks for noticing. I’ve resigned myself to steering the car myself. If I’m going to spend hundreds to upgrade my car, it’ll probably be on a a Hondata tune.

 

If you live in New York City and are looking for a car to drive itself, you'll need to wait until they come up with something that disregards lane markers, goes through red lights, and cuts off people. It may be a while.

 

Your comparing a Tesla which is autonomous level 2 and the RDX which simple has a feature to Help keep you in the lane. Your not even comparing similar things

 

Looking at this post and responses, we can see another example of marketing success. Many bought the car thinking it checks all the right boxes, but they are literally just checkboxes and the feature fails to live up to customer expectation. I don't think the RDX is unique in this respect. I'm glad it fails early and often (so that I just don't rely on it) rather than in some catastrophic fashion after I have learnt to rely on it (many Tesla crashes).

 

Hey! I was in the same boat, too. 2019 ILX, the Previous generation had support, but my year didn't yet. I bought it anyway. It worked fine. "No Support" just means they haven't verified that it works with your car yet. Sign up on Discord and join the Comma AI forum and when you get your Comma 2, set it up, and hook it up to the car, and then post in the forum that you need a mod's help to fingerprint your car and they'll help you out.

As far as difference between the stock AcuraWatch system, it's night and day.

My commute is on a non-limited access road. So 65mph but with intersections and merge lanes, lots of hills and bends and curves. The stock LKAS lasts on average 20-30 seconds per attempt and sometimes just won't "catch" if it doesn't like the hill its on. You guys know. You live it.

The Comma AI, I've driven 30 minutes over hills and bends and dips and it doesn't drop out. A car can cut you off and it doesn't freak out. it just slows down.

The worst thing about the stock system is that if you're in a curve, and the curve is a little too aggressive it just QUITS and goes straight. Which if you don't catch the wheel means you're off the side of the road, or you're in a guard rail or concrete barrier. The Comma, if the curve is too aggressive it beeps at you, but it keeps trying at the curve. Which means that eventually (if it's not a hairpin at 65mph) the comma will catch up to the curve and all will be fine, without ever leaving the lane.

My commute is 2.5 hours and the amount of mental strain it takes off you is amazing.

Is it worth $1000? I'd say if you have a decent commute, then yeah. Also, it's an asset. If you ever sell the car, you can sell the Comma and they go for a lot on the Discord Forum (everyone knows what they're worth).

The stock LKAS actually does decent on flat interstates in good lighting, but it still has kooky behavior like you've gotta touch the wheel every 20 seconds (super annoying) and that it stomps on the breaks if someone cuts in front of you. Even that's borderline enough to upgrade in my opinion.

And if you try the stock LKAS stoplight to stoplight or on a road with no curbs or dashed line, forget it. <1% of the time it works. I'd say the comma works 80-90%+ They did a test against Tesla Autopilot and Comma beat it for road with no curbs and only grass runoff areas with no road markings. It's super clever.

Plus it's only up to version 0.8 And they push new updates all the time, so it's getting smarter and smarter with more features as time goes on.

Best part is you can take a car with normal bland LKAS and ACC and turn it into Level 2 Autonomous. I mean that's a $12,000 2016 Honda Civic Touring, or a $15,000 ILX with AcuraWatch. And it has something that rivals a $60,000 Tesla Autopilot, or $60,000 Cadillac Supercruise. Giving power to the small guys - I can get behind that.

 

Please do not mistaken LKAS vs "Autopilot" As other have pointed out, it's entirely different level of autonomy. Comma.Ai is legit, not just marketing. Is it the best that's out there? No and either is Tesla's AP/FSD but just like Tesla, it's readily available and puts the technology in consumer's hand.

I've yet to see Acura/Honda put out a plan for autonomous driving. Funny thing is that the first test drove of Comma.Ai was on an Acura!

 

FYI - Honda is actively working on some type of autonomy. In the city of Marysville, Ohio, the main intersection of this rural city the traffic lights are fitted with cameras that transmit data to their test vehicles. Also, Route 33 a main traffic route from/to Columbus Ohio is equipped to be a test road. On this Route, Cameras and transmitting stations are installed to monitor vehicles for testing. All of this is in concert with the Transportation Research Center that is used by all automobile manufactures.

 

that’s just so sad. Comma.ai drove an Acura ILX onto a highway in 2015/16 and went AP.

As I said, no plan and a little too late. They should just buy Comma.ai. Oh wait. Hotz won’t sell...

 

2022 RDX running comma.ai

 

The people on discord are creating a log of unofficially working Honda/Acura models: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...htmlview#gid=0


The official supported list is at: https://comma.ai/vehicles

 

Nice, wonder if you see any scenario that comma.ai does not handle well?

 

Interesting. comma.ai site doesn't list the 2022 RDX which is shown above to be running it.

OK, I see the spreadsheet notes why.

 

The 2022 RDX is my wife's car so I don't have as much experience:

V0.97 (release)
- The car steers on small and moderate curves fine above 45mph, you don't need to hold the wheel. You need to override and steer yourself on sharp turns.
- The MPH screen is wrong on the 2022, should be fine prior to 2022 as Acura changed its datafeed in 2022 and comma code didn't yet accommodate
- Uses Acura's longitudinal (stop/go) ACC, so that is the same as builtin


V0.97 (my custom software build in the link)
- fixed MPH bug and fixed a bug with autodim
- Enabled experimental driving modes: longitudinal and end-to-end
- longitudinal is what we use most
----- Car can steer at all speeds for small and moderate curves, not just above 45mph. You need to override and steer yourself on sharp turns.
----- This mode disables the Radar (Acura blocks steering under 45mph if the radar is on, so comma shut it off). Thus uses camera only for stop/go.
----- Comma stop/go is much smoother than Acura stop/go, but it stops too late so I have to brake on my own often
- end to end
----- This mode reads and responds to stop signs and stop lights
----- Car drives way to slow/scared in this mode. Similar to a new first time teenage driver. Not usable.

v0.98 (my custom software in development, working on getting them to certify and incorporate it into core comma software)
- Regular mode now warns with under 45mph that you have to steer yourself
- Longitudinal mode fixed the stopping too late (Comma fixed it, not me), now works fine. This will become a non-experimental feature that all users can use.
- Haven't tried end-to-end yet, Comma claims massive improvements.


There is a separate mode where Comma built in turn by turn navigation, and the car will change lanes and take turns to follow the navigation automatically. I understand they are de-emphasing this work and focusing on getting longitudinal and end-to-end modes stable for everyday use, so I have no experience with this mode.


I'm turning all my efforts to my MDX, as my wife is getting sick of me "borrowing" her RDX to debug. Expect to get the MDX in a similar working state within a couple weeks.

Am also hoping I get good enough at coding that I can add support for any/all Acura service loaners whenever I have them. Comma's user community has very few Acuras, which is why support is below-average for the brand. I'm hoping to fix that.

 

I've been spending the past few months actively helping comma get their open source software compatible with Acura's. I updated the spreadsheet with the latest updates. Currently every Acura model generation with AcuraWatch has at least one car currently working, except for below. Usually if one car in a generation works, they all work with at most minor software tweaks.

Acurawatch model generations with issues:
- 25/26 MDX TypeS - has new wiring and I'd need a test driver to work with me to build a custom harness and do lots of software trial error. If anyone is interested send me a PM.
- 24 ZDX - This car has all GM parts, and GM encrypts their CAN bus. Until someone can figure out the encryption this won't be compatible.

If anyone else wants to get a comma device working with any other car with Acurawatch, it should be a few PMs and probably 1-2 hours of me doing remote compatibility tweaking, and you'll be fine. Once these cars work, we send proof to Comma and they add them to their official compatibility list on their website. If the car is already on their compatibility list at https://comma.ai/vehicles#acura, then it will just work out of the box.