2017~2024 Looking for someone with a 2017+ non North American Mazda w/ Lane-Keep Assist

You can use Comma on Mazdas, but you have to either build the wiring harness yourself or buy one from someone. (I think the guy who ported Openpilot to Mazdas sells them.) You can checkout Comma's discord, they have a Mazda channel and probably can answer most of your questions.
As to why it isn't listed as a supported vehicle.. It's because Mazda locks out steering assist when your speed dips below 28mph or after a few seconds if you don't touch the wheel. One way to get around the timeout is to put some weights on the steering wheel to fool it, but Comma doesn't want to officially support it for that reason.

As for updates on enabling the official lane trace feature.. It's very likely only disabled for NA through software. To enable though, you have to figure out what bits to change in the car modules programming and so far I haven't been able to figure it out.
 
Great clarification for Comma.

Back to the asbuilt. Have you seen the excel file on that mazda3 forum that lists the code lines ?

I posted a link to it a while back, there may be an updated file though.
Here is the link to the thread: https://www.mazda3revolution.com/th...e-different-functions-asbuilt.169393/page-219
see post #4,379 for the link to the file.

I know almost nothing about asbuilt, but you seen they have found some lines related to the LAS and LDWS. You probably have already seen these but posting just in case.

1608294212175.png
 
Oh yes I have seen this.. I've spent hours on that forum and excel sheet haha.
I'll give you a "brief" explanation of AsBuilt data. The stuff below may get a bit technical, but I'll try my best to explain.

The car has several modules (RCM, RBCM, IC, FSC, etc.) which are responsible for different features of the car. For example, the FSC module is the forward sensing camera behind the rear view mirror. It is responsible for LAS, LDWS, HBC, SCBS, etc. The IC module is the instrument cluster (speedometer), it is responsible for many features. For example, if your car has HBC (auto high beams), then that feature is related to both the FSC and IC modules. The FSC checks if there are any cars in front of you. The IC turns on the auto high beams light to indicate to the driver the feature is active and also it turns on/off the actual high beams whenever FSC tells it if there are any cars in front of you or not.

AsBuilt data is the configuration of these modules. Mazda has the same IC in many different cars, but for some of them they do not have HBC. In that case, the feature is disabled in AsBuilt. The configuration itself is stored as hex values in "blocks" in the modules. When you see for example: 706-01-02, that is the address for a particular block. The first 3 numbers specify the module (706 is the FSC module). For most modules if the next 2 digits are 02 then those blocks contain configurations that can be changed by the user through the infotainment settings. (Though this is not always true.)

Again, a block stores the configuration in hex-format. For example 706-01-02 can store something like 84A3 0000 1047. The 10 in binary is 0001 0000. Turns out bit b4 (the 1) is for TSR (traffic sign recognition). If you have 0, it enables TSR. If you have 1, it disables TSR. The last two values (47) are the checksum. These are calculated for you by the spreadsheet and are based on the other hex values. They don't actually control anything.
The IC module is special and also has a checksum block, 720-04-01, that is updated and must be changed whenever you change anything in 720-04-xx.

The two modules that are likely related to enabling lane trace are the FSC and IC modules. I've compared the FSC configuration to other cars and we pretty much know what all the bits in this module are for. The only thing required to change here for lane trace is to change 706-02-02 to 4455. As you see from the block address, this is one of those that should be able to be changed through the infotainment. But for our case, Mazda removed the option to change between lane trace and lane departure from the infotainment in NA, so we have to change it manually through asbuilt.
I've tried this and it did not work. Likely the second thing that must be changed is in IC. The LAS system is hard because it is not a simple on and off. Instead it seems to be able to be configured in lots of different ways. So far I'm thinking its 720-04-15. In all US Mazda 6 the last hex value is 31, but all other regions seem to have 30. The thing is this assumption doesn't hold if you factor in the CX-9. For the CX-9, a US and one Australian car both had 32.


TLDR:
AsBuilt data is hex data that enables/disables certain features of a car's module. Lane trace system has to be enabled in both FSC and IC modules. We do not yet know what needs to be changed in IC.
 
Oh yes I have seen this.. I've spent hours on that forum and excel sheet haha.
I'll give you a "brief" explanation of AsBuilt data. The stuff below may get a bit technical, but I'll try my best to explain.

The car has several modules (RCM, RBCM, IC, FSC, etc.) which are responsible for different features of the car. For example, the FSC module is the forward sensing camera behind the rear view mirror. It is responsible for LAS, LDWS, HBC, SCBS, etc. The IC module is the instrument cluster (speedometer), it is responsible for many features. For example, if your car has HBC (auto high beams), then that feature is related to both the FSC and IC modules. The FSC checks if there are any cars in front of you. The IC turns on the auto high beams light to indicate to the driver the feature is active and also it turns on/off the actual high beams whenever FSC tells it if there are any cars in front of you or not.

AsBuilt data is the configuration of these modules. Mazda has the same IC in many different cars, but for some of them they do not have HBC. In that case, the feature is disabled in AsBuilt. The configuration itself is stored as hex values in "blocks" in the modules. When you see for example: 706-01-02, that is the address for a particular block. The first 3 numbers specify the module (706 is the FSC module). For most modules if the next 2 digits are 02 then those blocks contain configurations that can be changed by the user through the infotainment settings. (Though this is not always true.)

Again, a block stores the configuration in hex-format. For example 706-01-02 can store something like 84A3 0000 1047. The 10 in binary is 0001 0000. Turns out bit b4 (the 1) is for TSR (traffic sign recognition). If you have 0, it enables TSR. If you have 1, it disables TSR. The last two values (47) are the checksum. These are calculated for you by the spreadsheet and are based on the other hex values. They don't actually control anything.
The IC module is special and also has a checksum block, 720-04-01, that is updated and must be changed whenever you change anything in 720-04-xx.

The two modules that are likely related to enabling lane trace are the FSC and IC modules. I've compared the FSC configuration to other cars and we pretty much know what all the bits in this module are for. The only thing required to change here for lane trace is to change 706-02-02 to 4455. As you see from the block address, this is one of those that should be able to be changed through the infotainment. But for our case, Mazda removed the option to change between lane trace and lane departure from the infotainment in NA, so we have to change it manually through asbuilt.
I've tried this and it did not work. Likely the second thing that must be changed is in IC. The LAS system is hard because it is not a simple on and off. Instead it seems to be able to be configured in lots of different ways. So far I'm thinking its 720-04-15. In all US Mazda 6 the last hex value is 31, but all other regions seem to have 30. The thing is this assumption doesn't hold if you factor in the CX-9. For the CX-9, a US and one Australian car both had 32.


TLDR:
AsBuilt data is hex data that enables/disables certain features of a car's module. Lane trace system has to be enabled in both FSC and IC modules. We do not yet know what needs to be changed in IC.

Very, very helpful info. Thanks @enlil.
 
Hello @enlil, I just bought a US 2021 CX-9 and I have been following your posts as I am trying to turn on Lane Trace (important for my wife, we realized too late that the US version of the car does not have this feature enabled). I am impressed with your level of knowledge (and perseverance!). I was wondering if you have had any luck on this yet? Last I saw, you figured out the FSC module, but still working on the IC part. Would be great if you could share your progress! Thanks!
 
There is a reason this is disabled by Mazda for NA :) keep it simple, watch the road and be safe. People have lived without lane centering for ages. It's not a big deal.

Also messing with the modules by editing hex data would certainly void warranty and may also lead to bigger problems with the electronics.
 
Very interesting discussion.

I stumbled across a clue that additional hardware may be involved in lane centering. Go to the following Mazda Mexico link I stumbled across in a Reddit thread; Google offered me an English translation option:


Now click on "Lane Maintenance Monitoring System". It is then further identified as "LKA".

This sounds like a lane centering function that uses both sensors and the forward camera. The radiating lines in the picture might be an indication the sensors are in the side of the vehicle.

Now back up and click on "Lane Change Monitoring System (LDW)". This seems to combine in one term what in the US we know to be Land-keep Assist (LAS) and Lane Departure Warning (LDWS). My US manual suggests these functions operate using the "Forward Sensing Camera" exclusively which seems to coincide with this Mexico LDW description.

If there are in fact side sensors in Mexican models, that's an odd choice of term since the vehicle would have to "see" the lines with a camera. This is watered down marketing literature; the side sensors may be more accurately described as "Side Sensing Cameras" if they in fact exist just as the forward camera is called a "Forward Sensing Camera" in US lingo.

If my conjecture is correct, Mazda may have added these side "sensor" cameras for Mexico because the Forward Sensing Camera's field of view is too narrow and/or down-the-road-looking for its other functions to be able to do the job of centering with enough precision at highway speeds to keep the vehicle from jogging back and forth from line to line. I've seen a reference to Mazda 3 having a lane centering function at speeds under 40 mph when the automatic cruise stop-and-go is engaged. That may not require the side "sensors" given the low speeds but I did not delve into that any further to know whether that is specific to some markets.

Here's what I don't understand. Doing a word search on "Mexico" in the PDF version of my 2020 US manual returns 70 references covering a variety of topics which leads me to believe it covers all of North America. But there are no Mexico references to these "sensors" or lane centering. Perhaps extra side sensors/cameras are a 2021 variation added for Mexico. I tried once to download a 2021 PDF manual from a third party and got a security warning and that brought me to the end of my curiosity on that question.

Even so, whether or not additional side sensors/cameras are required,. why not offer lane centering in the US and/or Canada? @RubyNeal may be correct--a liability concern. I don't know how these semi-"autonomous" functions are marketed in other places but besides Musk's nonsense I've also seen a US Cadillac commercial with a woman taking her hands off the wheel, leaning back and smiling. Perhaps Mazda fears the US or US/Canada markets have been uniquely deluded. "Autonomous", semi- or otherwise, should be stricken from the automotive vocabulary for now and probably some time to come. Or it could simply be Mazda finds US law is more open to liability claims. I can't speak to that, but if so it sure has not deterred other automakers from adding this function and presenting it in overly optimistic ways.

I'm also in agreement with @RubyNeal that even the LDW and LAS are kinda sketchy, though my experience is different. Even after coming to understand these functions only operate when very gradually sidling toward a line, in several of my tests reported elsewhere some months back along with normal driving since, I've found my vehicle picks up shoulder white lines quite consistently, rumble strips or not, but is very inconsistent in picking up left side yellow lines that are clear as a bell on perfectly clear days on two lane blacktops. I have not done enough expressway driving to judge how consistently it handles left side white lines. Perhaps my differing experience from Ruby's is the result of our forward sensing cameras being mis-calibrated in different ways. Who knows, and I digress, other than to say it begs the question of how well Mazda's the lane centering works wherever it is available.

As a final digression, I'm more interested to know if there is a software code modification to make the turn signal volume louder than the loudest user setting but alas I find no TSB for that. ;)
 
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Unfortunately there isn't - for the turn signal sound. Only the settings from the infotainment.
 
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