My passat has most assist systems and I like how it steers. It tries very hard to get my attention and get my hands back on the steering wheel. It barely lets me keep my hands 15 seconds of the wheel but this is perfect for what it's designed to do: keep you in the lane if you are being distracted by something (eg: baby).
Even more it has various modes to get your attention back including detecting tiredness and inability to hold the steering wheel on the lane.
If you can't drive responsibly with a baby on board lane assist isn't going to save your ass. If something happens to your baby which distracts you ask someone else in the car to take care of it, if there is nobody to help pull over at the earliest opportunity.
Lane assist will not save you from anything else but lane departure and there are a lot of other things that can go wrong while you allow yourself to be distracted because you rely on lane assist to keep you safe. That's not the intended use of this feature.
Also I find it interesting how much you assume about a person or situation from a single word.
I absolutely agree. There is absolutely no excuse for the driver to take their eyes off the road to assist a baby in the car. How would you assist a baby in the back seat while driving with a seat belt on anyway?
As I read about people using these features, I'm convinced they shouldn't exist. Yes, crazies will apply eyeliner while going sixty on a highway but I doubt driver assist is an adequate solution for such stupidity should a driver poke themselves in the eye.
If you have ever driven with a baby or child in a car you will have learned that they can cry or make a tantrum. Assist systems are intended to supplement and assist the driver in situations of increased stress. The idea that one would actively take their hands off the wheel to do something with a child is so preposterous ghat only commenters on HN could seriously suggest that.
Here's a state-by-state break-down:
http://www.ghsa.org/html/stateinfo/laws/childsafety_laws.htm...
You seem really defensive about a pretty inoffensive remark. Maybe you need to reflect on why you are so angry about something so trivial.
If you're not actively steering it but just waiting to take over if things go poorly, things also seem like they'd be difficult. Other than getting in an accident, how is a person supposed to know when autopilot is doing it's thing correctly, and when it isn't?