BMW’s new ADAS tech: the non-intrusive driver aids you won’t want to turn off
Auto Express puts new AI-based autonomous driving systems to the test on BMW’s test track in Miramas, France
BMW’s Neue Klasse electric cars will introduce “smart and co-operative” automated driving assistance on lane changes and overtakes – and Auto Express has tested them in an upcoming BMW iX3 prototype.
The new suite of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) uses Artificial Intelligence and superfast processing from multiple sensors to predict and support a driver’s intentions. That enables it to execute a highway overtake if the driver looks in the side mirror, or cross the central white lines to avoid a cyclist if you’ve telegraphed the move with a little steering input.
Dr Peter Waldmann, BMW’s vice president of automated driving, told Auto Express that the new system was designed around the principles of being smart, safe and symbiotic. And that means putting an end to assistance features that drivers find intrusive, irritating or just plain wrong.
“Because they’ve had some negative [impacts] on customers, drivers may want to turn them off. So we’re trying to improve them to boost customer acceptance because ultimately it’s safer [with ADAS on].”
New-generation BMWs such as the iX3 are ‘software-defined vehicles’ with immense processing power, 20 times greater than today’s cars and the ability to take complex decisions in milliseconds. The AI has been trained on hours of annotated driving footage to help it learn the driving environment and potential hazards.
The ADAS features have their own ‘superbrain’ chip knitting together data from the cameras, radars and sensors positioned around the car. They construct a picture of the surroundings, locate the car to within a few centimetres thanks to powerful GPS and high-definition mapping, and even monitor the driver to understand his or her intentions.
BMW has Level 3 ‘eyes-off’ driver assistance on its 7 Series sold in Germany (costing upwards of €4,000), allowing drivers to watch videos or work as the car drives on the autobahn. But the iX3 remains at Level 2, so the assistance pack will cost much less but the driver remains liable and has to pay attention.
Here’s how the big BMW ADAS features feel on the Miramas test track – with Dr Peter Waldmann in the passenger seat.
We test automated overtaking
One button – on the left side of the steering wheel – controls all the ADAS systems and it’s contextual. That means it offers you relevant capabilities depending on your speed and surroundings.
On the ‘highway’ section of the Miramas test track, the opaque button suddenly offers me a cruise control graphic. One click and it turns green; time to set my speed up to 130kmh (84mph).
Ahead the Panoramic iDrive display shows me a green steering wheel clasped by white hands. That’s confirmation that I can take my hands off the wheel for minute after minute. Truth be told I’m not sure what to do with them, so I clasp them together in my lap like I’m praying. Which isn’t due to a lack of faith in the iX3.
We approach a slower-moving vehicle, and tapping the indicator triggers a command on the touchscreen for an overtake – select it and the iX3 will do the rest, even moving back into the middle lane once past the overtaken vehicle. The algorithm checks the gap is sufficiently big and oncoming traffic speeds safe before cutting back in.
Even more impressively, you can look in the side mirror, then watch the car respond by steering around the hazard. Then you look in the opposite mirror to make it resume its original lane. If you feel like clapping go ahead – there’s no need to have your hands on the wheel so long as you’re looking ahead.
The driver monitoring camera is watching and will give a warning after around 4-seconds, and it won’t be fooled by most sunglasses. The iX3 also features smart start on the highway: if you’re in stop/start congestion, the BMW will begin driving when the car in front pulls away, so long as you’re gazing through the windscreen. Dr Waldmann makes me test it with my eyes shut and sure enough the electric SUV refuses to budge.
There’s another smart but subtle tweak which will delight many frustrated drivers: instead of a brush of the brakes or a gentle steer out of lane cancelling active cruise control, the iX3 will permit gentle braking so that you aren’t forever resetting the cruise speed.
The biggest compliment I can pay is during 25 minutes on the simulated highway, I seldom needed to touch the steering or pedals.
We test emergency steering assistance
BMW has tried to create intelligent lane assist where crossing the white lines isn’t strictly forbidden. Doing 34mph, we bear down on a stranded car slightly encroaching on our lane. Again by looking in the mirror, the iX3 will let you cross the lines to steer around the hazard – or if you don’t take action it will assist with steering or braking. This less binary approach is ideal for Sunday morning drives where there are swarms of cyclists to avoid, without the lane assist pushing you back on a collision course.
Dr Waldmann says the system is in tune with its customers, making it an easy two clicks to turn off the audible speed warning (“our customers don’t like them,” he observes) and training the system to be sympathetic on an engaging road.
“On a curvy road we see that [BMW drivers often] want to go their own way. We’ve got a really complex, AI-based algorithm [deciding] if you really want to do [an overtake] or not. So if you look [in the mirror] or steer there, the BMW accepts it’s okay. But if your eyes are not on the road or [an emergency] happens, then you get helpful assistance.”
We also test the system by driving towards a dummy pedestrian, who’s depicted in the touchscreen’s graphical representation of our surroundings, Tesla-style. Typically a car would play it safe and stop, but if the iX3 detects your steering inputs it will defer to you continuing past the hazard while remaining in lane, or creeping out of the lane if you won’t hit another vehicle.
We test BMW’s latest assisted parking system
Slow down and the contextual button will offer to take over parking. Machine learning has absorbed so many scenarios, and the sensors have such a wide field of vision, that it may select a space to park in that you haven’t actually spotted. And if you disagree, select another space from the graphical representation on the touchscreen.
And the iX3 isn’t fussed about you being properly lined up: it will choose the fewest number of manoeuvres to slot you efficiently into that tricky space, hands- and embarrassment-free.
What’s next for BMW advanced driver assistance systems?
Neue Klasse cars such as the iX3 will roll-out the new assisted driving features across European countries including Germany, France, Austria and Italy. BMW’s vision is to automate highway cruising from “entry to exit” with hands-off driving and automatic lane changes, meeting the new DCAS standard adopted by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) in autumn 2024.
The UK is a UNECE member and has adopted the DCAS standard, but local regulators will need to approve the system. So will BMW offer it in the UK? “There are no technical issues,” says Dr Waldmann. “Mapping shouldn’t be a problem but there are some costs.” Those are likely to involve configuring the system for right-hand drive.
The long list of ADAS hardware – a radar and a camera up front, four surrounding cameras and radars, 12 ultrasonic sensors and the hi-definition map with GPS down to 10cm – will be standard equipment on the iX3. That means customers will be able to switch on new subscription features in the BMW ConnectedDrive store.
BMW is extending the capabilities into German urban areas, with automatic lane change and automatic stopping at red lights detected by the forward camera. Over The Air software updates should boost the system’s prowess, with BMW striving to enable urban turns off main roads and the ability to tackle roundabouts.
The system will also be developed for North America, and China will be key, a market more culturally accepting of autonomous driving features. “We want to say to European [drivers], you are the boss. So the machine might give you an offer and you say ‘yes’ or ‘no’. In China it’s quite different: they might [accept imposed] things western drivers don't want,” concludes Dr Waldmann.
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