Driving Made Easy With Volkswagen Polo’s IQ-DRIVE Travel Assist

Volkswagen presents the automotive market with one of the world’s first small cars capable of partly automated driving, the new Polo.

Made possible by the optional IQ.DRIVE Travel Assist, the new VW Polo steers, brakes and accelerates automatically on request.

Before the new Polo, the IQ.DRIVE technology was only available in larger models such as the Golf, Tiguan, Passat, Arteon and Touareg.

Now, as a first in its class, the new Polo also permits partly automated driving across the entire speed range.

Generally, the IQ.DRIVE Travel Assist is extremely easy to use with the new Polo’s standard multifunction steering wheel that features a separate button for the smart assist system.

All it requires is a simple push of a button, and the new Polo assumes partly automated lateral and longitudinal guidance.

Based on the fusion of Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) and adaptive lane guidance, this is how the IQ.DRIVE Travel Assist works.

Firstly, the ACC feature ensures that the Polo automatically maintains the permitted speed currently selected by the driver.

In which, courtesy of the camera-based Dynamic Road Sign Display, the Polo auto-calibrates the speed that it’s allowed to drive under.

Then, it uses radar sensor technology to detect any slow vehicles in front of it, applying the brakes when it does. Conversely, the Volkswagen accelerates again if it detects there are no cars ahead.

Besides that, also present is a predictive forward-looking ACC system that combines with the navigation system and dual-clutch gearbox (DSG).

This function, among other things, allows the vehicle to react to the road bends or town boundaries such as dividers, curbs, et cetera and reduces its speed.

As for the lane-keeping system, its Lane Assist function scans the area in front of the Polo using the same camera in the windscreen as the Dynamic Road Sign Display system.

Said assist system detects the lane markings and steers correctively as soon as any unintentional movement out of the lane is detected.

Nonetheless, the driver must keep their hands on the steering wheel, as they are always responsible for judging the traffic situation and controlling vehicle behaviour. 

Case in point, the driver can signal this preparedness via the capacitive surfaces of the steering wheel rim, which respond to touch.

Equally important, when fitted with the manual 5- and 6-speed gearboxes, IQ.DRIVE Travel Assist can be used from 30 km/h to the maximum speed of 210 km/h.

Alternatively, when the Polo is fitted with the aforementioned 7-speed dual-clutch gearbox (DSG), the assist system can be triggered from a speed of 0 km/h.

Hence, with IQ.DRIVE Travel Assist and DSG, driving with assistance is possible, and it makes the experience in stop-and-go traffic jam situations more comfortable.

Evidently, with the IQ.DRIVE Travel Assist activated, the ACC and adaptive lane guidance work together, enabling the Polo to brake, accelerate and steer automatically within the system limits.

To conclude, Volkswagen has made the IQ.DRIVE Travel Assist and ACC available for the Polo as components of the optional IQ.DRIVE package.