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Traffic Mode is a specialized driving personality built for stop-and-go congestion. It follows the car ahead more tightly and reacts more quickly than any other profile, preventing other drivers from cutting into your lane during bumper-to-bumper crawls. As your speed increases, Traffic Mode smoothly blends its aggressive gap into your Aggressive profile's settings, so you never end up dangerously close at highway speeds. Activate it with a very long press of your steering wheel's distance button, and your screen border turns red to confirm it's on.

💡 Tip: Not to be confused with the Aggressive driving personality, which is a general-purpose close-following profile for all speeds. Traffic Mode is designed specifically for low-speed congestion and automatically transitions to Aggressive behavior as speed climbs.

What It Is

Traffic Mode is an on-demand "fifth" personality profile that optimizes your car's following distance and responsiveness for heavy, slow-moving traffic.

Picture yourself in a bumper-to-bumper traffic jam on the highway. With a standard personality like Standard (1.45-second gap) or even Aggressive (1.25-second gap), your car leaves enough room that other drivers keep cutting in front of you. Every time someone merges into your gap, your car brakes, the gap opens again, and someone else cuts in. It's a frustrating cycle. Traffic Mode shrinks that gap to as little as 0.50 seconds and quickens your car's reactions so it moves forward promptly when the car ahead does, like a seasoned city driver who knows exactly how to hold their position in dense traffic.

What makes Traffic Mode unique among the personality profiles is its speed-aware blending. At a standstill, you get 100% of the Traffic Mode settings (tight gap, snappy reactions). The moment you begin moving, the behavior starts continuously blending toward your Aggressive profile settings. By roughly 28 mph, the blend reaches a 50/50 midpoint, and by approximately 56 mph, Traffic Mode behaves identically to Aggressive. This ensures that the ultra-tight following that works perfectly at 5 mph never persists at dangerous highway speeds.

Before You Start

Traffic Mode requires your car to support openpilot controlling gas and brakes, and the Driving Personalities feature must be enabled.

The full prerequisite chain is:

1. Your car must support openpilot gas and brake control (openpilot longitudinal). If your car uses its factory cruise control for speed (stock longitudinal), Traffic Mode isn't available because openpilot isn't the one deciding when to accelerate or brake. You can check compatibility on the comma.ai supported cars page.
2. Driving Personalities must be enabled. Navigate to FrogPilot → Driving Controls → Gas / Brake → Driving Personalities and turn on the master toggle. This requires at least Advanced tuning level.
3. Traffic Mode must be enabled within the Driving Personalities sub-panel. It's on by default, but if someone disabled it previously, you'll need to re-enable it.

Once those three conditions are met, Traffic Mode won't activate automatically. You toggle it on and off manually while driving, either through a steering wheel button press or the on-screen distance button.

⚠️ Warning: Traffic Mode can only be toggled while openpilot's gas and brake control is actively engaged. Pressing the button while disengaged won't do anything.

Settings

Traffic Mode has one following distance slider and five smoothness sliders, all customizable from the settings panel.

Settings Summary

Setting	Default	Range	Units	Tuning Level	What you feel
Acceleration Smoothness	50	25 – 200	%	Developer	How quickly you accelerate from stops
Braking Smoothness	50	25 – 200	%	Developer	How firmly you brake in traffic
Following Distance	0.50	0.50 – 3.00	seconds	Advanced	Gap to car ahead at low speeds
Safety Gap Bias	100	25 – 200	%	Developer	Extra cushion from the car ahead
Slowdown Response	50	25 – 200	%	Developer	How gradually you coast down to speed
Speed-Up Response	50	25 – 200	%	Developer	How gradually you speed up to match traffic
Traffic Mode (enable toggle)	On	On / Off	—	Advanced	Whether Traffic Mode is available to activate

Acceleration Smoothness

Property	Value
Default	50
Range	25 – 200
Recommended	The default of 50% provides responsive but comfortable traffic driving
Units	%

Controls how quickly your car applies gas when the vehicle ahead starts moving. The slider stores a whole number (25 to 200), which is divided by 100 at runtime to produce a factor between 0.25 and 2.00.

At 25% (factor 0.25), the car accelerates very aggressively from stops, feeling like a sports car launch. At 50% (default, factor 0.50), takeoffs are quick but not jarring. At 200% (factor 2.00), the car accelerates so gently you may fall behind the car ahead. This setting only applies when your car is currently accelerating (not braking).

What this means for you: If passengers complain about lurching forward in traffic, increase this toward 100%. If you're losing your gap because the car ahead moves and you're still sitting still, decrease it toward 25%.

Braking Smoothness

Property	Value
Default	50
Range	25 – 200
Recommended	The default of 50% gives firm but comfortable braking
Units	%

Controls how quickly your car ramps up brake pressure when the vehicle ahead slows down. At 25%, braking feels abrupt. At 50% (default), braking is firm and responsive without being jarring. At 200%, braking is very gentle, which risks not stopping in time if the lead brakes hard. This setting only applies when your car is decelerating.

What this means for you: Lower values make the car feel more decisive in stop-and-go. If braking feels too harsh in traffic, nudge this upward.

Following Distance

Property	Value
Default	0.50
Range	0.50 – 3.00
Recommended	The default of 0.50 seconds works well for dense stop-and-go traffic
Units	seconds

This is the gap your car targets at low speeds (standstill to about 10 mph). At 0.50 seconds, you're roughly one car length behind the vehicle ahead at walking speed, similar to how most human drivers behave in a packed traffic jam. At 1.00 second, the gap is roughly double, giving more room but also more opportunities for cut-ins. At 3.00 seconds, the gap is so large that Traffic Mode loses its purpose entirely.

⚠️ Warning: The 0.50-second minimum is intentionally shorter than the 1.00-second minimum on other profiles. This is safe in a slow-moving crawl (at 5 mph, 0.50 seconds is about 3.7 feet) but would be dangerously close at highway speeds. The speed-based blending system prevents this by transitioning to your Aggressive profile's gap as speed increases (see How It Works).

What this means for you: Leave this at 0.50 for maximum cut-in prevention in traffic. Increase to 0.75 or 1.00 if you want a little more breathing room or if wet/icy roads make you nervous about tailgating.

Safety Gap Bias

Property	Value
Default	100
Range	25 – 200
Recommended	The default of 100% provides balanced safety margins
Units	%

Controls how aggressively the speed planner penalizes encroaching on the safety zone around the car ahead. At 25%, the car tolerates very tight gaps during hazardous situations like cut-ins. At 100% (default), the safety margin is balanced. At 200%, the car adds a large safety cushion, making it feel more cautious in traffic.

What this means for you: Most drivers should leave this at 100%. Lower it only if you're comfortable with the car maintaining minimal safety margins. Increase it if you want extra caution in dense traffic with frequent lane changes.

Speed-Up Response

Property	Value
Default	50
Range	25 – 200
Units	%
Recommended	The default of 50% keeps pace with traffic flow

Controls how quickly your car adjusts its speed upward toward the set speed. At 25%, speed adjustments are sharp and immediate. At 50% (default), the car speeds up promptly. At 200%, the car takes its time reaching the target speed. This applies only when accelerating.

Traffic Mode (Enable Toggle)

Property	Value
Default	On
Recommended	On

When On, Traffic Mode is available as a profile you can activate while driving. When Off, the button press that normally toggles Traffic Mode does nothing, and the profile's settings are hidden. Disabling Traffic Mode doesn't affect the other three profiles (Aggressive, Standard, Relaxed).

Reset to Defaults

Each Traffic Mode sub-panel has a Reset to Defaults button that restores all six values (following distance plus five smoothness settings) to their factory defaults. A confirmation dialog asks you to verify before resetting.

How It Works

Traffic Mode uses a speed-based blending system that gives you tight, responsive following at low speeds and gradually transitions to your Aggressive profile as speed increases.

Speed-Based Blending

When Traffic Mode is active, all six of its values (following distance plus five smoothness settings) are paired with the corresponding values from your Aggressive profile. The system blends between them based on your current speed using a linear scale from 0 mph to ~56 mph:

• At 0 mph (standstill): 100% Traffic Mode values
• At ~28 mph: An even 50/50 blend of Traffic Mode and Aggressive values
• At ~56 mph and above: 100% Aggressive values

This blending begins the moment you start moving, not at some threshold speed. Think of it like a crossfader on a DJ mixer: at the left end you get pure "traffic" sound, at the right end you get pure "aggressive" sound, and as the crossfader slides from left to right, the mix shifts continuously.

For example, with the default Traffic Mode following distance of 0.50 seconds and the default Aggressive following distance of 1.25 seconds:

Your Speed	Effective Following Distance
0 mph (standstill)	0.50 seconds
14 mph	0.69 seconds
28 mph	0.88 seconds
42 mph	1.06 seconds
56 mph and above	1.25 seconds

This ensures you're never dangerously close at highway speeds. The crossover point of ~56 mph was chosen because that's typically the minimum speed for highway driving.

Following Distance Formula

The actual gap between your car and the vehicle ahead is calculated with:

$d_{\text{follow}} = T_{\text{follow}} \times v_{\text{ego}}$

In plain English: The gap in meters equals your speed (in meters per second) multiplied by the effective following time (in seconds).

At 5 mph (~2.2 m/s) with Traffic Mode's default 0.50-second gap: $d = 2.2 \times 0.50 = 1.1$ meters (about 3.7 feet). At 30 mph (~13.4 m/s), the blended follow time is approximately 0.90 seconds: $d = 13.4 \times 0.90 = 12.1$ meters (about 40 feet).

What Traffic Mode Changes Beyond Following

When Traffic Mode is active, several other behaviors change automatically:

• Acceleration profile is overridden. Regardless of your Longitudinal Tuning acceleration profile (Eco, Sport, Sport+), Traffic Mode uses the standard acceleration curve. This prevents the car from being artificially sluggish (Eco) or overly aggressive (Sport+) in traffic.
• Increased stopped distance is disabled. If you've configured extra space when stopped behind vehicles in Quality of Life settings, that extra space is removed during Traffic Mode to maintain a tight formation.
• Human-Like Following adjustments are disabled. The dynamic gap-closing and gap-opening logic that mimics human drivers is turned off, letting Traffic Mode's own blending logic control the gap exclusively.
• Stop light and stop sign detection for Conditional Experimental Mode is paused. This prevents Conditional Experimental Mode from switching driving modes based on detected stop signs while you're in heavy traffic (see Feature Interactions).

Profile Comparison

Here's how Traffic Mode compares to the other three profiles at their default settings.

Setting	Aggressive	Relaxed	Standard	Traffic Mode
Acceleration Smoothness	0.50 (50%)	1.00 (100%)	1.00 (100%)	0.50 (50%)
Best For	Assertive highway driving	Comfort-first cruising	Daily commuting	Stop-and-go traffic
Braking Smoothness	0.50 (50%)	1.00 (100%)	1.00 (100%)	0.50 (50%)
Following Distance	1.25 s	1.75 s	1.45 s	0.50 s
Min Follow Distance	1.00 s	1.00 s	1.00 s	0.50 s
Safety Gap Bias	1.00 (100%)	1.00 (100%)	1.00 (100%)	1.00 (100%)
Slowdown Response	0.50 (50%)	1.00 (100%)	1.00 (100%)	0.50 (50%)
Speed-Up Response	0.50 (50%)	1.00 (100%)	1.00 (100%)	0.50 (50%)

Traffic Mode matches the Aggressive profile's smoothness defaults (all 50% except Safety Gap Bias at 100%), but its following distance is less than half. The key differentiator is Traffic Mode's 0.50-second minimum vs. Aggressive's 1.00-second minimum, and the fact that Traffic Mode automatically blends into Aggressive as speed increases.

Activating Traffic Mode

You toggle Traffic Mode on and off while driving using your steering wheel's distance button or the on-screen distance button.

Default Button Mapping

Out of the box, the distance button on your steering wheel is configured with three press durations:

Press Type	Hold Duration	Default Action
Long press	0.5 – 2.5 seconds	Toggle Experimental Mode
Short press	Less than 0.5 seconds	Cycle driving personality (Standard → Aggressive → Relaxed)
Very long press	2.5+ seconds	Toggle Traffic Mode

To activate Traffic Mode, press and hold the distance button for about 2.5 seconds. You'll see the screen border change to red and an on-screen notification confirming Traffic Mode is active. To deactivate, hold the button for 2.5 seconds again.

💡 Tip: On GM vehicles, the long-press threshold is slightly higher (~0.75 seconds instead of 0.5 seconds) to accommodate GM's on-screen menu system.

Remapping the Button

If you'd prefer a different button assignment, you can remap any of the four available buttons to toggle Traffic Mode:

1. Go to FrogPilot → Vehicle Settings → Wheel Controls
2. Choose which button and press duration you want to remap:
   • Distance Button (short press)
   • Distance Button (Long Press) (0.5+ seconds)
   • Distance Button (Very Long Press) (2.5+ seconds)
   • LKAS Button (single press, not available on Subaru)
3. Select Toggle "Traffic Mode" On/Off from the list

The Toggle "Traffic Mode" On/Off option only appears in the selection list if your car supports openpilot gas and brake control.

On-Screen Distance Button

If your car doesn't have a physical distance button, or you prefer tapping the screen, enable the on-screen distance button at FrogPilot → Theme and Appearance → Appearance → Driving Personality Button. Tapping this button triggers the same action as a short press of the physical distance button. To trigger a long press or very long press via the screen button, press and hold it.

Status Indicators

When Traffic Mode is active, your driving screen changes in several visible ways to make the mode clearly identifiable.

Indicator	Description	Color
Distance icon	Changes to the Traffic Mode icon ()	—
On-screen notification	Displays "Traffic Mode enabled" when toggled on and "Traffic Mode Disabled" when toggled off, accompanied by a prompt tone	—
Path edges	The edges of your driving path turn red	Red
Screen border	Turns red (replacing the standard green engaged border)	Red

The red color is distinct from other status colors: green (engaged), orange (Experimental Mode), yellow (Conditional Experimental Mode overridden), and teal (Always On Lateral).

With Traffic Mode vs. Without

Aspect	With Traffic Mode	Without Traffic Mode
Acceleration after a stop	Snappier (50% smoothness at low speeds)	Based on active profile
Braking in traffic	Firmer (50% smoothness at low speeds)	Based on active profile
Cut-in prevention	High	Moderate to low
Following distance at 30 mph	~0.90 s (blended)	Same as profile setting
Following distance at 5 mph	0.50 s	1.25 s (Aggressive) / 1.45 s (Standard)
Following distance at 60 mph	Same as Aggressive setting	Same as profile setting
Increased stopped distance	Disabled	Applies if configured
Screen border color	Red	Green

Feature Interactions

Traffic Mode shares control outputs or state with several other features that affect gas and braking behavior.

Conditional Experimental Mode

Relationship: Works alongside

When Traffic Mode is active, Conditional Experimental Mode's stop-light and stop-sign detection is specifically disabled. This prevents Conditional Experimental Mode from switching to Experimental Mode every time the driving model "sees" a red light in traffic, which would constantly interrupt Traffic Mode's tight-following behavior. All other Conditional Experimental Mode triggers (speed thresholds, curves, navigation turns, slow leads) remain fully active during Traffic Mode. If one of those triggers fires, the system switches to Experimental Mode even while Traffic Mode is on.

Human-Like Following

Relationship: Works alongside (disabled during Traffic Mode)

Human-Like Following (found under FrogPilot → Driving Controls → Gas / Brake → Longitudinal Tuning) dynamically adjusts your following distance based on the lead car's relative speed. When Traffic Mode is active, Human-Like Following is automatically disabled so that Traffic Mode's own speed-based blending logic controls the gap exclusively.

Weather Condition Offsets

Relationship: Enhances

When Weather Condition Offsets detect rain, snow, or low visibility, they add extra following time on top of whatever Traffic Mode's blended following distance produces. The combined value is capped at the 3.00-second maximum. For example, if Traffic Mode is producing a blended 0.90-second gap at 30 mph and a rain offset of 0.30 seconds is active, your effective gap becomes 1.20 seconds.

Aggressive Profile (Driving Personalities)

Relationship: Requires (for blending)

Because Traffic Mode blends toward your Aggressive profile at higher speeds, customizing the Aggressive profile directly affects how Traffic Mode behaves above a crawl. If you set your Aggressive following distance to 2.00 seconds, Traffic Mode will blend toward a 2.00-second gap at highway speeds. Both profiles should be tuned together for the best experience.

Limitations & Known Issues

Traffic Mode is powerful in its intended environment but has boundaries you should understand.

• Conditional Experimental Mode stop-light detection is paused. While this is generally desirable in traffic, it means the system won't switch to Experimental Mode for genuine stop lights if you activate Traffic Mode on surface streets outside of congestion.
• Increased stopped distance is disabled. If you normally rely on extra space when stopped behind vehicles (configured in Quality of Life settings), be aware that this extra gap disappears while Traffic Mode is active.
• No steering changes. Traffic Mode only affects gas and braking behavior. Lane keeping, lane changes, and all other steering behavior remain unchanged.
• Only works with openpilot gas and brake control. Cars that rely on their factory cruise control for speed (stock longitudinal) can't use Traffic Mode. The toggle won't appear, and the button mapping won't work.
• The 0.50-second minimum gap may still feel close for some drivers. Even at low speeds, 0.50 seconds produces a gap of about 3.7 feet at 5 mph. If this makes you uncomfortable, increase it to 0.75 or 1.00, though this reduces the cut-in prevention benefit.
• The blending transition is fixed at ~56 mph. You can't adjust the speed at which Traffic Mode fully transitions to Aggressive behavior. This crossover speed is hardcoded.
• Traffic Mode doesn't persist across drives. Toggling your car off and back on resets Traffic Mode to inactive. You need to activate it again each time you start driving.

Setup Recommendations

Here are suggested configurations for common traffic scenarios.

Scenario	Following Distance	Smoothness Values	Notes
Dense stop-and-go (highway)	0.50 (default)	50% (defaults)	Maximum cut-in prevention, snappy reactions
Moderate congestion (30 mph)	0.75	75%	Slightly more room and comfort at medium speeds
Motion-sick passengers	0.75	100 – 150%	Smoother acceleration and braking reduces queasiness
New user (first week)	0.75	75%	Try a slightly less aggressive setup first, then tighten as you build confidence
Wet-weather traffic	0.75 – 1.00	75 – 100%	Pair with Weather Condition Offsets for automatic adjustments

💡 Tip: Remember to tune your Aggressive profile alongside Traffic Mode. At any speed above a standstill, your car is already blending both profiles, reaching an even 50/50 mix by about 28 mph. Setting your Aggressive following distance to 1.00 instead of the default 1.25 makes Traffic Mode feel tighter even at moderate speeds.

Q: The Traffic Mode toggle isn't visible in the settings panel. How do I find it?

A: Traffic Mode lives inside Driving Personalities, which has three requirements: (1) your car must support openpilot gas and brake control, (2) your tuning level must be set to at least Advanced (go to FrogPilot → Tuning Level), and (3) you must enable the Driving Personalities master toggle at FrogPilot → Driving Controls → Gas / Brake → Driving Personalities. Once Driving Personalities is on, you'll see Traffic Mode listed as one of the four profiles inside it.

Q: I'm pressing the distance button for 2.5 seconds, but nothing happens on the road.

A: Two things to check. First, Traffic Mode can only be toggled while openpilot's gas and brake control is actively engaged (cruise control must be on and the system must be controlling the car). If you're disengaged, the button press is ignored. Second, verify the button is actually mapped to Traffic Mode by going to FrogPilot → Vehicle Settings → Wheel Controls → Distance Button (Very Long Press) and confirming it says "Toggle Traffic Mode On/Off."

Q: My car still feels too close to the car ahead even with Traffic Mode off.

A: Make sure Traffic Mode is actually deactivated. Check that your screen border is green (not red). If the border is green and following still feels close, the issue is likely your active personality profile's following distance, not Traffic Mode. Check which profile is active by looking at the on-screen distance icon.

Q: The car accelerates too aggressively from stops in Traffic Mode.

A: Increase the Acceleration Smoothness setting above the default 50%. Go to FrogPilot → Driving Controls → Gas / Brake → Driving Personalities → Traffic Mode and raise Acceleration Smoothness to 75% or 100%. This requires Developer tuning level to access. At Standard or Advanced tuning levels, the smoothness sliders aren't visible and use their default values.

Q: Traffic Mode was active, but Conditional Experimental Mode suddenly switched to Experimental Mode. Why?

A: While Traffic Mode disables Conditional Experimental Mode's stop-light and stop-sign detection, it doesn't disable other triggers. Conditional Experimental Mode can still switch to Experimental Mode for speed thresholds, detected curves, navigation-based maneuvers, and slow or stopped lead vehicles. If you don't want Conditional Experimental Mode to intervene during Traffic Mode, you can disable those specific triggers in the Conditional Experimental Mode settings.

Q: Traffic Mode turns itself off every time I restart my car.

A: This is expected behavior. Traffic Mode is a session-based toggle that resets to inactive each time you start a new drive. It's designed this way because congestion is temporary, and you wouldn't want Traffic Mode's tight following to be active on an empty highway the next morning. Simply re-activate it with the distance button when you hit traffic.

Q: The feature disappeared after updating FrogPilot.

A: After a FrogPilot update, your settings are preserved but the UI may need to reload. First, try rebooting your device. If Traffic Mode still doesn't appear, verify that your tuning level is still set to Advanced or higher and that Driving Personalities is still enabled. Updates occasionally reset tuning levels if there are major changes.

Q: Can I use Traffic Mode on surface streets, not just highways?

A: Absolutely. Traffic Mode works at any speed on any road type. It's particularly useful in urban stop-and-go, school zones during drop-off, or any situation where maintaining your position in a lane of slow-moving vehicles matters. Just remember that Conditional Experimental Mode's stop-light detection will be paused while Traffic Mode is active, so the system won't switch driving modes for red lights.

Q: Why does Traffic Mode use the Aggressive profile for blending instead of my currently active profile?

A: Traffic Mode's blending target is always the Aggressive profile regardless of which personality was active before you toggled Traffic Mode on. This is by design: as traffic speeds up, you want assertive, close-following behavior, not the generous gaps of Standard or Relaxed. If you want the high-speed portion of Traffic Mode to feel less assertive, increase the Aggressive profile's following distance.

Related Features

Traffic Mode shares control outputs or state with these features.

Feature	How it interacts	Relationship
Aggressive (Driving Personalities)	Traffic Mode blends toward Aggressive profile values as speed increases. Customizing Aggressive directly affects Traffic Mode's behavior above a crawl.	Requires (for blending)
Conditional Experimental Mode	Stop-light and stop-sign detection is disabled while Traffic Mode is active. Other triggers (speed, curves, navigation, leads) remain active.	Works alongside
Human-Like Following	Automatically disabled while Traffic Mode is active, letting Traffic Mode's own blending logic control the gap.	Works alongside
Weather Condition Offsets	Adds extra following time on top of Traffic Mode's blended gap during rain, snow, or low visibility, capped at 3.00 seconds.	Enhances