Driver assistance systems (ADAS) are often a source of frustration for drivers. Lane keeping assist, automatic emergency braking, adaptive cruise control… So many technologies designed for safety, but which tend to intervene inappropriately, even when they are neither necessary nor desired. Nothing is more annoying than having to fight against an electronic assistance that tries to save you against your will.
The Nightmare of Intrusive ADAS
Imagine: you’re driving on a two-lane country road. A delivery truck is blocking your lane. The opposite lane is clear, so you calmly begin to overtake. Suddenly: BEEP BEEP BEEP! The lane departure warning triggers and the lane keeping system tries to pull the steering wheel back to the right, straight towards the truck. You counter-steer, complete your overtaking, and move on. Or, worse, you spend five precious minutes searching through menus to figure out how to disable this “assistance.”
The BMW Revolution: The ADAS That Understands Your Intention
But BMW is arriving with a new “super-brain” architecture that radically changes the game. Its special feature? The ability to… do nothing. No, it’s not simply about being able to deactivate the system – that option already exists. It’s also not just a simple improvement in object detection to reduce false positives, although that is certainly included.
An Eye Tracker to Anticipate Your Maneuvers
The real innovation lies in a capability to read your thoughts, or at least, your eyes. The system is now capable of recognizing signs of an intended maneuver from the driver. When you approach an obstacle and glance into the opposite lane to check for traffic, BMW’s eye-tracking sensor – the same one that already monitors attention and signs of drowsiness – detects your gaze.
When this gaze is coupled with a corresponding action on the steering wheel, the system understands that you are acting deliberately. If it detects no immediate safety threat on your new trajectory, it will not trigger any alarm and will not intervene to correct your direction.
The Result: Finally Harmonious Driving
The result? Silent compliance. The dream for any driver annoyed by untimely interventions. This new logic also smoothens the transitions between manual and hands-free driving modes, practically eliminating the need to activate or deactivate them; the car simply yields control to the driver in response to their actions.
This advancement is just a first glimpse of the possibilities offered by BMW’s new electrical architecture. In the future, expect even more intelligent integration of its systems.