Assisted driving notes

The Q4 E-tron has a lane departure warning system that defaults to on with every restart but it can be deactivated via a five-second push of a conveniently placed button on the end of the indicator stalk. As it is, the system remains inactive until the car accelerates beyond 38mph; and when it is active, it isn’t one of the more bothersome set-ups.

Audi’s Pre Sense Front autonomous emergency braking system comes as standard, while blindspot monitoring and rearward-facing crash avoidance systems are available as part of the £650 Safety Package Plus.

Optional adaptive cruise assistance turns the car’s lane departure warning system into a more dedicated lanekeeping system when you’re running on dual carriageways. It works quite unobtrusively when the other cruise control systems are running, although at times it did seem to slow the car unnecessarily when traffic in neighbouring lanes was detected.

AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING

• Does the system seem prone to false activation? ✗ • Can it be deactivated? ✓ • Does it have pedestrian/cyclist detection? ✓ • Is the system tuned to keep the driver engaged at all times? ✓ • Is it adjustable for sensitivity? ✗ • Does it allow you to drive around a pothole/obstacle within your lane easily and without deactivation? ✓

INTELLIGENT CRUISE CONTROL

• Can the system consistently recognise and automatically adopt motorway gantry-signed variable speed limits? ✓ • Does it prevent undertaking? ✓ • Does it have effective audible or visual alerts, or steering intervention, to prevent changing lanes into the path of an overtaking car? ✓