Auto-learn Driving Style

[wwest]

As many of you know I am a total disbeliever on this matter, but I was able to find a "white paper" on the internet which I suspect was concerning the "auto-learn" feature of the Porsche tiptronic.

What it said was that with 60 seconds of starting the car, putting it in gear and into motion, it will "map" your personal driving style into one of the modes, sport, moderate, or passive. Once it has accummulated 3 minutes of history it will now be able to "map" your driving style, adaptively, into as many as 10 modes, depending on roadspeed, etc.

Thereafter it only keeps a running record, history, of just the past three minutes of your driving style, and might even remap you into one of the other modes if "history" warrants.

I have no real idea which marque this might apply to but it was origined, seemingly, by one of the european manufacturers.

[thdoan]

As many of you know I am a total disbeliever on this matter, but I was able to find a "white paper" on the internet which I suspect was concerning the "auto-learn" feature of the Porsche tiptronic.

What it said was that with 60 seconds of starting the car, putting it in gear and into motion, it will "map" your personal driving style into one of the modes, sport, moderate, or passive. Once it has accummulated 3 minutes of history it will now be able to "map" your driving style, adaptively, into as many as 10 modes, depending on roadspeed, etc.

Thereafter it only keeps a running record, history, of just the past three minutes of your driving style, and might even remap you into one of the other modes if "history" warrants.

I have no real idea which marque this might apply to but it was origined, seemingly, by one of the european manufacturers.

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Someone may says it is inteligent. I have a question about it. In cold weather, I need to warm the engine up, It may not be my real driving style in the first couple of minutes. The following is my real story. I always follow break-in procedure for my new cars. In thefirst 1000 miles, I have no choice but baby my engine. At 10000 miles tune up, I complain that my RX shifting is not as smooth as the loaner. They reset my transmission memory. After that, I drive with my real me. I feel that my transmission is now much smoother and more responsive than before. :)

[ajvenuto]

As many of you know I am a total disbeliever on this matter, but I was able to find a "white paper" on the internet which I suspect was concerning the "auto-learn" feature of the Porsche tiptronic.

What it said was that with 60 seconds of starting the car, putting it in gear and into motion, it will "map" your personal driving style into one of the modes, sport, moderate, or passive. Once it has accummulated 3 minutes of history it will now be able to "map" your driving style, adaptively, into as many as 10 modes, depending on roadspeed, etc.

Thereafter it only keeps a running record, history, of just the past three minutes of your driving style, and might even remap you into one of the other modes if "history" warrants.

I have no real idea which marque this might apply to but it was origined, seemingly, by one of the european manufacturers.

←

Someone may says it is inteligent. I have a question about it. In cold weather, I need to warm the engine up, It may not be my real driving style in the first couple of minutes. The following is my real story. I always follow break-in procedure for my new cars. In thefirst 1000 miles, I have no choice but baby my engine. At 10000 miles tune up, I complain that my RX shifting is not as smooth as the loaner. They reset my transmission memory. After that, I drive with my real me. I feel that my transmission is now much smoother and more responsive than before. :)

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So the RX330 really has a driving style "transmission memory" ?

If so, does anyone know if the 2000 RX300 model also has this feature ?

[mh6]

I picked up my RX300 from the Lexus dealer and had the opportunity to speak at length with Diag. Specialist for the dealership. He was very knowledgable on any subject I could throw at him about the RX300.

On this particular subject he said that since I had recently aquired it that one of the first things I needed to do was remove the negetaive side from the batt. and let sit for about 2 minutes....this will clear out the Engine ECU and trans ECU.

He the then told me to perform about "5" take off's how I normally drive, he stated that it was not totally a learning type as in newer cars however it did record a "pattern" and adjust things in reference to the take offs performed. He said before I could say anything perhaps I was feeling a slight shimmer between 1 and 2 gear..... he stated that there has been execellent succes in clearing the trans ECU in the above fashion and the shimmer disappears and smothter shifting is obtained. I am going to perform this action tomorrow evening.

Passing the info along :)

[wwest]

I'm sorry...

But how can anyone of reasonable intelligence believe that the ECU, any ECU, in these cars has a long term memory of someone's driving style?

How does it handle the fact that my wife has a completely different driving style than I? What about families with both parents and teenage kids, all as oftentime drivers?

What about the rental "fleet".

No, if any of these ECU's "learn" on the fly then their memory is WIPED each and every time the vehicle is restarted.

Please remember that it was not long ago that the common (FALSE) knowledge gleamed from dealers, salespersons, mechanics and technicians, was the ABS was of benefit in shortening stopping distances.

And please keep in mind that should the manufactureers really wish the ECU to learn each individual's driving style then they could most readily provide coded, "personalized" ignition keys for each person who will be driving the car.

Many cars, Porsche, Chrysler, etc, already provide individually coded keys for the seat memory and various other "memory" aspects of modern day cars.

[ColinBarber]

The memory isn't wiped every time the vehicle is started. Many people have reset their transmission memory and can instantly notice a different in shifting.

Not really sure what you are talking about with ABS. It doesn't shorten stopping distance if you don't lock up the wheel when doing an emergency braking procedure. But the fact is that more people do lock up than don't it and for them the stopping distance is reduced.

[wwest]

"stopping distance is reduced"

NOT!

Read some of the newer analysis on the subject.

Soon, I hope, we will begin to see ABS enabled ONLY if the VSC system indicates that loss of directional is impending.

[mh6]

I'm sorry...

But how can anyone of reasonable intelligence believe that the ECU, any ECU, in these cars has a long term memory of someone's driving style?

How does it handle the fact that my wife has a completely different driving style than I? What about families with both parents and teenage kids, all as oftentime drivers?

What about the rental "fleet".

No, if any of these ECU's "learn" on the fly then their memory is WIPED each and every time the vehicle is restarted.

Please remember that it was not long ago that the common (FALSE) knowledge gleamed from dealers, salespersons, mechanics and technicians, was the ABS was of benefit in shortening stopping distances.

And please keep in mind that should the manufactureers really wish the ECU to learn each individual's driving style then they could most readily provide coded, "personalized" ignition keys for each person who will be driving the car.

Many cars, Porsche, Chrysler, etc, already provide individually coded keys for the seat memory and various other "memory" aspects of modern day cars.

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Perhaps I did not explain myself clearly in my last entry ......... he really said 3-5 takes off after putting the battery cable back on and then the frist 3 to 5 takes offs only.

He stated it acquires a pattern with those first 3-5 takes off's an thats it. How it adjusts during those 3-5 times and I am not sure, perhaps pressure points reached while accelerating ?? Dont know ...have not done a alot of research in that area.

It does not learn each individual drivers patterns.

The fact that several people have said they feel a difference after the ECU is cleared and that includes 2 people who I did not know and meet at the Lexus dealer who stated the same fact and knew nothing about clearing anything prior to thier visit.

They were happy with changes made afterwards.

That would indicate that a noticable change is felt.............

...it seems that someone with "reasonable intelligence" would heed the advise being passed down.

Perhaps you should try it and feel your own results.........

[wwest]

Look, were I the ONLY one to drive my car then I would certainly tend to believe that disconnecting the battery would remove any memory of my previous driving habits. Additionally I have very little doubt that the various ECU must then "recalibrate" themselves based on actual feedback signals from the various sensors. That sensor recalibration sequence alone can account for a "new" driving "feel" after the battery is reconnected.

But everything I can find to read on this subject indicates that the "learning" of an individual driver's "style" begins anew each and every time the engine is restarted.

[mh6]

Look, were I the ONLY one to drive my car then I would certainly tend to believe that disconnecting the battery would remove any memory of my previous driving habits. Additionally I have very little doubt that the various ECU must then "recalibrate" themselves based on actual feedback signals from the various sensors. That sensor recalibration sequence alone can account for a "new" driving "feel" after the battery is reconnected.

But everything I can find to read on this subject indicates that the "learning" of an individual driver's "style" begins anew each and every time the engine is restarted.

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All we are saying is that when the thing is cleared...it removes whatever memory...

if you want to call it that.....it had and recalibrates .......much like a virtual memory file does on a computer. When a virtual file fills or becomes 'locked in" with previous code......it causes slow downs and some times can effects programs to not function to its potential. When the swap file is cleared of old code, things speed up and temp program settings that were being read from the file are no longer read because they were cleared.

Just like clearing a BIOS.......takes it back to its original programed state and yeah perhaps thats the improvement .........its original state.

I just did it and I will say I feel a difference.......more responsive and much of studder is gone as he said it most likely would be.

Just my 2 cents

[bmwm3smg2]

BMW has this same feature in all their newer cars. When you drive aggressively for a few minutes, the ECU will then adapt by delaying the up shifts a little bit longer or allow the downshifts to occur sooner, which allows the transmission to reach the ideal RPM. Then when you're done having fun and begin driving "Normally", the ECU will adjust the transmission's shift points to a less agressive mapping. The ECU adapts automatically so you shouldn't have to reset it to remove any "Long" term memory information. I said "Shouldn't" because BMW provided a way to reset the SMG transmission from inside the car. Having said that, I've only reset my SMG once after a major service action was performed on my car and I've been driving my car for three years now. I hope this helps.