Hyundai’s Ioniq 5 has an extended battery range and comes with many self-driving features, including Level 2 autonomous driving and more.
The Hyundai Ioniq 5 electric vehicle has many new features, including a Level 2 autonomous driving system. The EV also has an EPA-certified maximum driving range of 303 miles and an All-Wheel-Drive (AWD) system. Furthermore, Hyundai has used its new E-GMP modular platform for the Ioniq 5, which will help the brand launch its next generation of electric vehicles.
The Hyundai Ioniq 5 is available in four trim levels — Standard Range, SE, SL, SEL and Limited edition. The EV has a starting price of $39,700 for the base model that offers a 220-mile driving range. It directly targets the Tesla Model 3 Rear-Wheel-Drive (RWD) version, which also costs around $40,000 depending upon a state’s tax incentive. With Tesla being the long-standing champion of EVs, any other car that wishes to target it needs to offer more than just a long driving range.
As a result, the Ioniq 5 offers Level 2 autonomous driving capabilities in its mid to high-trim variants to compete against the Tesla Autopilot. The Hyundai self-driving system on the Ioniq 5 consists of three main parts — Forward Collision Awareness Assist, Highway Driving Assist 2, and Driver Attention Warning system. These systems also have several sub-parts that make up the electric vehicle’s self-driving tech.
How The Hyundai Ioniq 5’S Self-Driving Tech Works
The full name is Forward Collision Awareness Assist with Pedestrian Detection system or FCA-Ped for short. Its main job is to alert the driver and apply emergency brakes in case of an imminent crash. The FCA-Ped has two primary modes — ‘Active Assist’ and ‘Warning Only.’ When the Active Assist is turned on, the system will sound an alarm and apply brakes to mitigate an imminent forward collision. However, the system only delivers a warning if it is working in the other mode. The FCA-Ped also comes with a forward cross-traffic safety feature that the user can turn ON or OFF. When active, this system will warn the user and apply emergency braking if it detects the risk of cross-traffic collision. It is also important to note that all FCA systems only operate at certain speeds.
This self-driving feature includes Smart Cruise Control and Lane Following Assist. The Highway Driving Assist 2 or HDA helps maintain distance from the vehicle ahead, retain a set speed and help center the car in the lane during highway cruising. HDA turns on when the Smart Cruise Control and Lane Following Assist system are working. When that happens, the HDA icon turns green on the instrument cluster to show that it’s now activated. Hyundai has kept measures in place to avoid misuse of this feature as well. For example, the system asks the driver to keep their hands on the steering wheel at all times and shuts down entirely if its initial warnings are ignored. Moreover, the Highway Driving Assist 2 feature works only when driving on the Interstate highway and can shut down when facing bad road or weather conditions.
The Driver Attention Warning System or DAW primarily works to keep the driver alert while driving. It has two sub-parts — Inattentive driving warning and leading vehicle departure warning. The former system lets off an alarm if the user is driving inattentively or continuously for a long time. The system uses a five-level scoring system to judge how attentive a user is while driving and gives a reminder whenever all the scores are depleted. The leading vehicle departure warning is beneficial during heavy traffic. This system alerts the user to start moving whenever the car in front takes off. However, this system won’t work when another driver cuts in front of the vehicle, a car departs abruptly, or while driving on a tollway. Compared to a Tesla Model 3, the self-driving system in the Ioniq 5 is less intelligent. For starters, cruising only takes turns that are not too tight. Moreover, it cannot perform lane changes independently, nor can it take the car off-ramps. However, one good thing about the Hyundai Ioniq 5 self-driving system is that it can mimic a particular user’s driving style in some areas. For example, the system will take into account how the user accelerates or decelerates the car and do the same.
