My Prius Prime Drives Itself

The following is a copy/paste from my Honda Clarity forum post for someone who asked for a report about getting their new "black panda" system for our Prius:

I finally got it installed in my 2018 Prius II last evening. NOTE: the stock Prius LKA is very, very weak and doesn't actively steer like the Clarity; rather it's more like a lane departure system so my expectations were rather low.

Comma.ai has now got it down to pretty much a plug-n-play installation for the Prius with their new "black" panda. To speed things up, I followed the EON uninstall chffr/reboot/install OP protocol first (this is purely to get around shipping legality issues) and while that was downloading and installing OpenPilot, I installed the hardware (panda, harness, and routed the long cable to the OBD port) and determined the mount location for the EON (smartphone) to center up the camera (basically right under the stock Prius camera, duh). Also, you must download the comma.ai phone app to YOUR iOS/android phone (not the EON which initially confused me) to register everything. Total time was about an hour going slow, double checking things, watching the install video, etc.

Next, drive for short time over 16mph to initiate the EON, set the cruise, and let go of the wheel! THAT. WAS. IT. No trouble codes, no flashing warnings from the Prius or the EON, etc. The rearward facing camera on the EON monitors the driver's attention but since my first test drive was on a dark highway and it couldn't see my face, it would default to occasional screen warnings like the Clarity does.



This is still Beta so nothing's perfect: It tends to slightly ping-pong within the lane like a new driver. Another drive this morning seemed better to me, mainly I think because I was a little more use to it, but hey it's also learning too. So far the biggest neg to me is the EON hardware isn't really suited for 24/7 car use and removal is recommended when sitting in the sun. We're in south Texas so this is a big deal and it may be a deciding factor for my wife using one. The EON cooling fan is audible when interior audio levels are low to medium levels but I don't find it annoying rather it's almost soothing. LOL The USB cable input location on the EON isn't ideal (I haven't finalized routing yet in the pics).

Driving (umm, monitoring) freeway sections last night, we also noticed it was MUCH better at ignoring exits every time it saw a break in the right lane markings like the Clarity does. It also followed/traced right side curbing with no stripes on city streets better than I expected. ACC performance, which utilizes the OEM radar, seemed the same as the stock Toyota system but I haven't got to experiment with the full speed stop/go feature in traffic yet.

TLDR: overall this is an impressive system especially considering it's still BETA. If they can get a better hardware solution for the sun/heat issue, this will probably become a true game changer for this new, fledgling industry. Great! So when is the black panda for the Clarity coming?

 

Including summer daytime? No heat issues?

 

I unplug the EON and place it in the center console if I park in the sun. Everything else is fine to leave.

 

After going down the rabbit hole, I'll be making my own custom EON with an after market fan to help with heat during driving. Should save me about $400 off the actual cost by doing this. Will definitely get the black panda from the developer for sure though. Supports them and looks sleek.

Note: You can make a supercap version that'll permanently be able to stay in the sun or get one from wlee in the discord chat. That completely solves the issue of the summer heat or car heat.

 

I'd love to just plug in an external camera to mount to the windshield (and maybe a 2nd on the rearview mirror for driver monitoring and leave the EON in the glovebox (or something like that)