Traffic sign recognition

[TheQuattroBoy]

I have the traffic sign recognition option on my 2021 6.1 Ocean but all it seems to give is the speed limit. I’ve checked that I’ve enabled the settings in the menus but still only the speed limit. I got the impression that it should show temporary road signs and hazards etc. My local dealer hasn’t a clue and said they’d need the van for 2 days to investigate! Has anybody got this to work?

 

[ArunAlec]

I have the traffic sign recognition option on my 2021 6.1 Ocean but all it seems to give is the speed limit. I’ve checked that I’ve enabled the settings in the menus but still only the speed limit. I got the impression that it should show temporary road signs and hazards etc. My local dealer hasn’t a clue and said they’d need the van for 2 days to investigate! Has anybody got this to work?

I’d be interested in how you get on…. I have doubts that mine “reads” signs.

 

[The Tall Luthier]

Mine reads road signs, both here and Europe. Sometimes it reads them wrongly! This is usually because it sees a number elsewhere prominent displayed . I one this to be the case as it changes speeds for roadworks.

I have no idea how to turn it on and off.

 

[Hawthorn37]

Ours reads speed limit signs (some of them anyway) but nothing else. It often misses signs , suggesting 30mph is appropriate for the M1 for example. I hope Ford have a better system for their autonomous cars just licensed in the uk.

 

[66tim99]

Mine reads signs - very occasionally it’s incorrect. It sometimes shows 30 on one section of the 40mph A12, and has once I think read a speed limit sign on the back of a lorry, mistaking it for a road sign. I suspects it also uses Sat Nav inform the speed limit.
99% of the time it is correct, even in temporary speed limit zones. This, coupled with the ACC have saved me numerous fines I’m sure. It’s become a habit to set my ACC to the limit on the screen, particularly in 20mph zones (I set to 22mph which seems to be 20mph in reality - via Google maps) which I find too difficult to stick to…

 

[The Tall Luthier]

Mine reads signs - very occasionally it’s incorrect. It sometimes shows 30 on one section of the 40mph A12, and has once I think read a speed limit sign in the back of a lorry, mistaking it for a road sign. I suspects it also uses Sat Nav inform the speed limit.
99% of the time it is correct, even in temporary speed limit zones. This, coupled with the ACC have saved me numerous fines I’m sure. It’s become a habit to set my ACC to the limit on the screen, particularly in 20mph zones (I set to 22mph which seems to be 20mph in reality - via Google maps) which I find to difficult to stick to…

What is it about human nature? When we’re in a 30 we do 33. In a 20 we do 22!!!

Like 2mph will make any considerable difference whatsoever, especially when that red light is going to keep us waiting for 56 seconds.
We’re all the same, slightly mad! But we won’t let the bustards grind us down.

 

[WelshGas]

What is it about human nature? When we’re in a 30 we do 33. In a 20 we do 22!!!

Like 2mph will make any considerable difference whatsoever, especially when that red light is going to keep us waiting for 56 seconds.
We’re all the same, slightly mad! But we won’t let the bustards grind us down.

I suppose it depends on what you consider your speed is, when driving. The speed shown on your Speedometer or the speed shown by GPS on your phone app or SatNav.
Which is classed as your " Legal" speed?
Most of the Road Traffic speed laws were probably formulated before GPS. I wonder what " speed" autonomous vehicles use?

 

[GrahamB]

I think it is only designed to ‘read’ speed limit signs and the dash showing the current speed limit. I believe it does this by a combination of sign number recognition in the forward cameras combined with gps/nav data. The camera aspect can get confused sometimes, but I find it is generally pretty accurate based on knowing what the limit should be on any given piece of road. Apart from speed limits, I am not sure what value there would be in recognising other road signs, but I don't think the system is designed for that anyway.

 

[ArunAlec]

I think it is only designed to ‘read’ speed limit signs and the dash showing the current speed limit. I believe it does this by a combination of sign number recognition in the forward cameras combined with gps/nav data. The camera aspect can get confused sometimes, but I find it is generally pretty accurate based on knowing what the limit should be on any given piece of road. Apart from speed limits, I am not sure what value there would be in recognising other road signs, but I don't think the system is designed for that anyway.

Any idea how you tell if the speed limit shown on the dash is camera or GPS derived? Apart from blanking out the cam lens.

 

[GrahamB]

Any idea how you tell if the speed limit shown on the dash is camera or GPS derived? Apart from blanking out the cam lens.

I don’t know sorry. I have not seen anything that would suggest that.

 

[The Tall Luthier]

I suppose it depends on what you consider your speed is, when driving. The speed shown on your Speedometer or the speed shown by GPS on your phone app or SatNav.
Which is classed as your " Legal" speed?
Most of the Road Traffic speed laws were probably formulated before GPS. I wonder what " speed" autonomous vehicles use?

I believe manufacturers are duty bound to create speedometers that over-read real speed for fear of litigation.
Obviously as your tyres wear out the over read becomes more pronounced. These factors lead to up to a 5% over-read. 105 Kph is really 100kph.

I don’t know that mathematical factors are ’it’ though. I reckon it’s more that we’re all just naughty school children that need to push boundaries. Not too much though.

 

[The Tall Luthier]

Any idea how you tell if the speed limit shown on the dash is camera or GPS derived? Apart from blanking out the cam lens.

There is a really odd display graphic when there is a conflict of data. It shows a small graphic with three ellipses and multiple layered spotted signs.
I say it’s odd as it doesn’t really explain what has happened.

 

[66tim99]

What is it about human nature? When we’re in a 30 we do 33. In a 20 we do 22!!!

Like 2mph will make any considerable difference whatsoever, especially when that red light is going to keep us waiting for 56 seconds.
We’re all the same, slightly mad! But we won’t let the bustards grind us down.

Yes it just seems so slow, eg. heading from Marylebone west towards the flyover at 20. I don’t want a fine, but I definitely want to travel as quickly as possible

 

[andyinluton]

Any idea how you tell if the speed limit shown on the dash is camera or GPS derived? Apart from blanking out the cam lens.

I don’t know if some are camera & some are gps, but it does pick up temp speed limits for roadworks, & in France shows the lower limits when raining ( suspect that’s due to the wipers being on)
I have seen some signs other than speed limit but am struggling to think what they were.

 

[Wallaces Travels]

When towing, mine shows the reduced limits applying to towing and actual limit. The "other signs" it can read could well be what is seen in Germany where there are speed "qualifiers" under the sign with a different limit . I haven't taken the Cali to Germany, but when driving other VWs in Germany, the Sign Recognition System seemed to read these and show the normal and adjusted speeds.

 

[dspuk]

I have the traffic sign recognition option on my 2021 6.1 Ocean but all it seems to give is the speed limit. I’ve checked that I’ve enabled the settings in the menus but still only the speed limit. I got the impression that it should show temporary road signs and hazards etc. My local dealer hasn’t a clue and said they’d need the van for 2 days to investigate! Has anybody got this to work?

AFAIK the VW system, in the UK, only shows speeds, not any other signs. I have on the Cali and Tiguan and never seen any other signs.

 

[Mehdime]

I don’t have the traffic sign recognition system option so can’t comment on what it reads. However, even without that option, the built-in VW sat nav will display the current speed limit based on mapping data.

It will also display other road traffic signs but there’s a bug in the VW sat nav app that causes all the signs to be displayed on top of each other. So in practice, you can only see the speed limit sign, which is always displayed on top. You can see that there are other signs hiding behind (e.g. you might see the edge of a triangular sign behind the round speed limit sign) but can’t actually see the sign. Sometimes (very rarely), the app doesn’t have speed limit data but has info about other signs so you can actually see those hidden signs briefly (until they get covered again by a speed limit sign).

 

[TheQuattroBoy]

Thanks for all of you that have replied. It does appear that the marketing hype behind the option doesn‘t really translate into a real value benefit on the California - at least in the UK. I’ve always felt that the speed limit display has come from the navigation mapping data and not from the paid for dynamic recognition option. Not helped by the fact that two dealers that I’ve spoken to haven‘t a clue either.

 

[andyinluton]

I’ve always felt that the speed limit display has come from the navigation mapping data and not from the paid for dynamic recognition option. Not helped by the fact that two dealers that I’ve spoken to haven‘t a clue either.

It definitely uses camera information as well - I don’t see how else it’s picking up overhead gantry changes to speed limits.

 

[Rex911]

I had the ACC on last Saturday travelling on M56. When the overhead gantry displayed a slower speed limit than the speed I was travelling the van slowed. Even the wife was impressed!!

 

[Justinitus1972]

I have the traffic sign recognition in my BMW, came as standard on the pro cockpit. As above, I only get speed limit signs and nothing else but it does read them live as roadwork speed reductions are almost instant. I was in two minds on ordering it with the Cali but decided against as the sat nav does have the data built in, albeit not live.

 

[andyinluton]

I had the ACC on last Saturday travelling on M56. When the overhead gantry displayed a slower speed limit than the speed I was travelling the van slowed. Even the wife was impressed!!

How does that work then? - the ACC is not linked to the traffic sign recognition.

 

[WelshGas]

I had the ACC on last Saturday travelling on M56. When the overhead gantry displayed a slower speed limit than the speed I was travelling the van slowed. Even the wife was impressed!!

Was that because you slowed or the car in front that the ACC was tracking?

 

[Rex911]

I did not slow and there was no car in front that the system was tracking......I had acc set to 60 and it took me down to 50?? I will try and get it to replicate on the M62 on my way home this afternoon. I did check and as stated the acc is not linked to RSR ??

 

[pluc99]

What is it about human nature? When we’re in a 30 we do 33. In a 20 we do 22!!!

Like 2mph will make any considerable difference whatsoever, especially when that red light is going to keep us waiting for 56 seconds.
We’re all the same, slightly mad! But we won’t let the bustards grind us down.

I set my ACC speed slightly above not because I want to arrive a few seconds earlier but to facilitate smoother passing of other vehicles that are often just a few clicks below the speed limit. It seems to work.

The VW software, not just for the speed limit "reading", is pretty pathetic when compared to American systems. I shouldn't have to envy my Fiat (ie Chrisler) driving friends' older generation systems.

I pretty well always drive with ACC and have never experienced any slowing down based on the speed limit reading system. If it slows unexpectedly without a car ahead it is usually a mis-reading of the situation, typically a slower vehicle in the exit lane or in a curve. Maybe it's just a speck of dirt flying up to the camera.

I have had the speed display jump up and down because the navigator mistakenly had me following a nearby road instead of the highway I was on and of course it is unable to interpret qualifying signs such as the ones that limit the speed for lorries.

There is a slight hope that a future software update could deliver a miracle but I won't be holding my breath waiting for it.