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Road Sign Assist

Discussion in 'Prime Technical Discussion' started by Paul Lewis, Dec 11, 2019.

  1. Paul Lewis

    Paul Lewis New Member

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    I have just bought a new plug in Prius and was shocked by just how awful the RSA system is.

    Road Sign Assist (RSA) system is dangerously inaccurate. It responds to images from the front camera and is supposed to ‘read’ road signs and indicate the current speed limit and allow alarms to be set if it is exceeded.

    However, it shows no speed limit at all about half the time. Even when it does show a speed limit it is often incorrect. It frequently misses the change between one speed limit and the next. It does not generally respond at all to the end of speed limit signs. On occasion it responds to signs in parallel roads, indicating for example a 30mph limit while driving on a dual carriageway with a 70mph limit. It has no knowledge of the 60mph speed limit on unsigned single carriageway roads or the 70mph limit on unsigned dual carriageways and motorways. It absolutely cannot be relied on.

    The result is that the indicated speed limit – and any warning that has been set – may result in a driver driving dangerously slowly or illegally fast. I might also add that it has never shown any other road sign at all which could also be dangerous.

    But the worst of it is that there is another more accurate speed limit indicator built into the navigation system. That uses the GPS position of the vehicle to show the current limit that applies to the road where the car is located. I have had experience of that system for seven years on the Prius Which I part-exchanged for my new vehicle. It works well – I would say it is almost never wrong.

    However on the newest models this accurate system is disabled if RSA is fitted. It is still visible on the settings for the navigation system but is greyed out and cannot be accessed, though clearly it is still there. Turning off the RSA does not re-enable this speed limit indicator. So the driver has no choice as to which system – or both – to use.

    This is not a fun gizmo, it is a crucial piece of safety equipment so I am shocked that Toyota has disabled the accurate system and replaced it with the very inaccurate RSA system.


    I am in the UK and in my view this feature of the vehicle is not fit for its particular purpose under s.10 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015.



    I have asked my dealer to sort this out and find a way to allow me to switch on the accurate Nav system speed limit indicator.

    I was also shocked looking at this chat that similar feedback about RSA has been given for at least three years. Maybe if I return the car and demand my money back the problem will be taken seriously!!
     
  2. Salamander_King

    Salamander_King Senior Member

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    First of all, Welcome to PC. I am sure someone from UK have better answer than mine, but AFAIK there is no RSA functionality on US models of PRIME.

    I am aware of the the Navi based speed limit warning system on my 2017 PRIME, but I never use it, for in our location speed limit is whatever a driver want to drive at. It really doesn't mean anything. If I drive at or below the posted speed limit on our roads, many pick-up trucks and SUV are tail gating me. LOL
     
    #2 Salamander_King, Dec 13, 2019
    Last edited: Dec 13, 2019
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  3. drash

    drash Senior Member

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    No RSA here on our Primes. I would suggest you use Waze through Apple CarPlay. Not sure if the UK has that capability


    Unsupervised!
     
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  4. Tha_Ape

    Tha_Ape Active Member

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    Yea, mines off on a ton of roads by me. It'll say 35 when the speed limit is 25 (and has been for years). I have map data from 2018, too.

    Im sure it's great when it works, but it's actually annoying for me because it constantly pops up in the HUD and there's no way to disable it without turning off part of the HUD (which I like when it's not showing the me the incorrect speed limit).
    .........
    Hmm actually, now that I think about it, I can probably get that beatsonic mod that lets you use the nav screen and options while driving (by tricking the nav into thinking it's stopped). That would probably prevent the display from showing speedlimits... but id lose the active map while it was on
     
    #4 Tha_Ape, Dec 19, 2019
    Last edited: Dec 19, 2019
  5. Griogarach

    Griogarach New Member

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    Mine can be slow to react to a new sign, but for the most part does ok.

    It occasionally misses the odd sign, but that's quite acceptable to me. The responsibility to be paying attention and knowing the limits is mine.

    I treat it as an assistant (it's even in the name) rather than the gospel as to what is the current limits. At its best it's handy to have, but certainly no more than that.

    I have a 2016 Executive (edit: don't know if it's the same as the prime), and RSA can definitely be turned off on mine - it can be replaced with either yet another battery indicator or a real time fuel consumption guage.

    I am not sure if it can only be done at a standstill or in accessory mode or something. Similar to the navigation lockout. I can check over the weekend.
     
  6. CharlesH

    CharlesH CA HOV Decal #5 on former PiP

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    All we have in the US is speed limit information obtained from the out-of-date onboard navigation database.
     
  7. noonm

    noonm Senior Member

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    Probably not the answer you're looking for, but just use your phone.

    Toyota electronic package/infotainment system has been noted to be garbage by many, for some of the reasons you now are experiencing.
     
  8. swaldman

    swaldman New Member

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    Yeah, I'm on a very slightly older model (UK 2018 PHV) and after a few days of testing I've turned off the road sign recognition. The funniest example of Getting It Wrong was when I overtook a truck on a highway, and the truck had a sign on the back saying "This vehicle is limited to" with a miniature speed limit symbol, and the car promptly told me that that was the new speed limit :)

    In my car the navigation system still shows the speed limit on its screen, though there isn't any way to get it up to the main dashboard or the HUD. It's a shame if that's been disabled in the newest version.
     
  9. snakeshoes

    snakeshoes Junior Member

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    So, I'll be 'that guy' and ask the obvious question. What purpose does this feature even serve? Shouldn't the driver actually be looking at the road and thus paying attention to the road signs directly instead of looking at distractions inside the car? After all, that's worked for decades before this tech.

    Now, if you'll excuse me, I think there are some kids I need to yell at until they get off my lawn..... ;)
     
    Diemaster likes this.
  10. Prime Alex

    Prime Alex New Member

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    If you find yourself in a different city or a part of town you don't know, I think it's great to have a reminder of the speed limit where you are. In Canada, this feature isn't enabled, but I was in North Dakota over the weekend and I liked having the speed limit displayed.

    But if you want to be critical, the Prime displays a LOT of information of negligible value...
     
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  11. Tha_Ape

    Tha_Ape Active Member

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    UPDATE: I figured out how to turn it off on the HUD. You have to use TechStream and set it to "off".

    It still displays on the navigation as well as the MID (which is perfect for me).[​IMG]
     
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  12. JirkaV

    JirkaV JirkaV

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    FWIW, I can turn the RSA function off on the "Vehicle settings" LCD. Central Europe version of the car.
     
  13. Tha_Ape

    Tha_Ape Active Member

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    We have that here, too. But it still appears on the HUD. That only turns it off from appearing on the MID from what I can tell
     
  14. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    The US version is different. The US version is using embedded map data for speed limits. RSA uses the LDW camera to read the road signs.
     
  15. Tha_Ape

    Tha_Ape Active Member

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    My problem is it appearing on the HUD. I dont know any other way to turn that off other than in TechStream. I'm not sure that RSA vs. Embedded data affects that, but perhaps it does, if it doesnt get it, it just wont appear.

    I hate duplicated (or in this case triplicated) information. I like seeing my speed/pseudo tachometer/EV miles remaining on the HUD. The speed limit updates obscure 2 of those things and the only way to get around it was through TechStream (I'm so happy that its possible).

    Sure I could leave my MID on the "pseudo tach" and set me trip meter to show EV miles remaining, but I prefer to use them for other information.
     
    #15 Tha_Ape, Feb 29, 2020
    Last edited: Feb 29, 2020
  16. jerrymildred

    jerrymildred Senior Member

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    My manual says that "Route guidance" in the HUD can be set to on or off in the settings available in the MID. But it doesn't say if that's speed limit or what. My Premium doesn't have HUD, so I can't experiment with that. Also, it seems to be the only HUD setting that is customizable. (Page 735 in my manual.)
     
  17. JirkaV

    JirkaV JirkaV

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    That's not the same here. Switching it off makes it disappear from the HUD (I think, I actually have it off all the time so I don't recall if it *can* appear in the HUD)
     
  18. varmonter

    varmonter Junior Member

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    Here in the States .Speeding is one of those laws that gets broken on a regular basis.
    Police have radar and if caught
    a driver will/can be pulled over
    and fined. Telling the officer that
    your RSA told you the speed limit
    was 50 when in fact it was 25
    will not get you out of a ticket.
    Therefore it should not be taken
    as gospel. Just sayin. If you find it annoying just turn it off.
    My friend finds his chk engine light annoying so he puts black
    electrical tape over it.. ;)