Nannies - who drove a 2026 car and can tell?

[Foxy87]

Hey

I will get my Emira supposably in April/May. I didnt spec the „extended co drivers package“ (its an option in europe) but will have the co driver package as standard which includes the following nannies:

- Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB)
- Traffic sign recognition
- Blind spot warning system
- Lane change assist
- Lane departure warning
- Fatigue detection/warning

I am very curious how Lotus implemented these (how annoying these are) and how easy it is to disable them (shortcut or deep within the menues). I am finde with the AEB and the Blind spot warning. I hate traffic sign recognition and speed warner.

So is there anybody who has driven a 2026 car and paid attention to these?

Thanks

 

[Milk242]

I took delivery of a 2026 Turbo recently. The driver assists have to be disabled on each start up as far as I can tell, but they’re easy enough to toggle on/off or set to visual only. They are very annoying otherwise - the speed warning will beep constantly if you’re even 1 MPH over the limit.

Also, for the turbo model it seems they disabled the piped in engine noise by default (at least in touring mode, haven’t tried the other modes since I’m still under 1000 miles).

I don’t remember ever having piped in engine noise in touring on my first edition, it was always sport or track.

I just need someone to figure out how to wire in blind spot monitoring and rear cross traffic alerts

 

[Bimmernate]

Every time I start up the car, I turn it to sport mode anyway. If you turn it to sport or track will that disable the speed warning chimes? Or are there extra menus that you have to go to. I guess I will soon find out.

Trading in my 24 for a 26. Mainly because I got my hands on one of the limited colors, but also will appreciate the re-configured shifter mechanism and transmission mounts for smoother shifting

 

[V6 6MT]

Every time I start up the car, I turn it to sport mode anyway. If you turn it to sport or track will that disable the speed warning chimes? Or are there extra menus that you have to go to. I guess I will soon find out.

Trading in my 24 for a 26. Mainly because I got my hands on one of the limited colors, but also will appreciate the re-configured shifter mechanism and transmission mounts for smoother shifting

Let us know if we're truly missing out on improved shifting

 

[Last ICE]

Hey

I will get my Emira supposably in April/May. I didnt spec the „extended co drivers package“ (its an option in europe) but will have the co driver package as standard which includes the following nannies:

- Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB)
- Traffic sign recognition
- Blind spot warning system
- Lane change assist
- Lane departure warning
- Fatigue detection/warning

I am very curious how Lotus implemented these (how annoying these are) and how easy it is to disable them (shortcut or deep within the menues). I am finde with the AEB and the Blind spot warning. I hate traffic sign recognition and speed warner.

So is there anybody who has driven a 2026 car and paid attention to these?

Thanks

Say it ain’t so.

If I were in the market for a ‘26, which I will be if Purple Haze turns out to be as good in person as I expect it will, I’m afraid the mandatory nanny package will be a deal killer and I’ll stick with my ‘24. A few of ‘em I could live with, but a few (like traffic sign/speed warning and fatigue detection/warning) I simply can’t.

My friend bought a Lexus a few months ago and is dumping it after enduring endless insufferable beeps, bongs, pings, chimes, and involuntary interventions. The Car and Driver review of the new driver assistance changes to the ‘26 opens with: “Breaking with Lotus tradition . . .” Indeed - a big part of why I bought the Emira was analog.

There’s a bunch written in the automotive press of late decrying the evolving and increasingly invasive nannies as hated features, and begging automakers to please just stop already. And and as recent automotive editorials have observed, some of this driver assistance proliferation is actually defeating safety objectives by diverting drivers’ attention from the road in front of them to deal in real time with the plethora of in-your-face (literally) nannies.

A new YouTube on the ‘26 by a Florida dealer suggests you can defeat the nanny package by dialing up Track mode, but I’m not keen to give up ABS to be free of the intrusion of new “enhancements” that detract from the experience I bought the Emira for. My idea of a fun outing does not include a de-activation ritual, whatever that may entail, even assuming you’re dealing with features that can be deactivated in the first place.

Apologies for the rant, but I’m passionate about what I think is the last of a breed.

 

[anynameyouwish]

And where can you disable them? Is there a shortcut with one button/finger tip or is it within the menues/submenu?

2-3 clicks deep. Not too terrible imo but definitely tedious to have to do it each time. Will ask my dealer if there is a way to make it permanent. Don’t see why it couldn’t be updated through a software update.

 

[LotsOfTriumphsUsuallySexy]

There’s a bunch written in the automotive press of late decrying the evolving and increasingly invasive nannies as hated features, and begging automakers to please just stop already

This doesn’t come from car manufacturers, it comes from EU, and I presume it’s too costly to make exceptions for the North American markets.

 

[Last ICE]

This doesn’t come from car manufacturers, it comes from EU, and I presume it’s too costly to make exceptions for the North American markets.

Your take is standardization driven by EU regs?

 

[LotsOfTriumphsUsuallySexy]

Your take is standardization driven by EU regs?

It's not specific to EU; if regulation in a major market imposes a design change to a product, it's often cheaper to make it apply globally rather than make per-market unique versions. There are *plenty* of examples of cars that didn't make it to the US as it would have required a special variant and that was judged not worthwhile.
EDIT: one example that came to mind is that EU forced Apple to use USB-C on the iPhone in europe and that is making them switch globally rather than maintaining two versions. Isn't this obvious?

 

[Last ICE]

It's not specific to EU; if regulation in a major market imposes a design change to a product, it's often cheaper to make it apply globally rather than make per-market unique versions. There are *plenty* of examples of cars that didn't make it to the US as it would have required a special variant and that was judged not worthwhile.
EDIT: one example that came to mind is that EU forced Apple to use USB-C on the iPhone in europe and that is making them switch globally rather than maintaining two versions. Isn't this obvious?

Yep, understand your point. It would be great, however, if deactivation of non U.S. mandated features could be made simple / permanent where possible.
The flavor of what I’ve read of late is although some is driven by regs, some is born of tech for tech’s sake, or to quote a recent editorial, a complex solution to a problem that either doesn’t exist or shouldn’t have been addressed the way it has been.

Back to the original post, I’m interested to learn how Lotus’ fatigue detection / warning actually works.

 

[Dino67]

This is from the owner's manual. It sounds like the Fatigue Alert only gives a warning light, which makes sense since the car has hydraulic steering. It's the automatic braking that was a deal breaker for me. Although I do find the steaming cup of coffee as the idiot light amusing.

 

[OppositeLock]

It's weird how this works in the US. These technologies aren't directly mandated, but there are "soft" requirements to improve safety. The NHTSA tracks stuff like accident rates and you get "credit" for certain technologies being installed into your cars, which is factored into safety rating, insurance rates, etc. It doesn't matter if lane keep assist or emergency braking or whatever actually improves safety, the credits are still applied. It's amazing how much of bureaucracy has grown around these kinds of soft mandates.

Another example is the auto-start-stop. Same thing. You get a credit towards CAFE if you install the thing and it's default-on, so it's now ubiquitous despite not being mandated explicitly.