BMW i3 drives itself around town
Fully-autonomous parking and self-steering in traffic jams improve driver comfort and safety
- Published in Technology.
Proof of concept: i3's technologies take the effort out of urban driving
BMW's i3 electric city car concept showcases several advanced driver assistance systems for making urban driving safer and more convenient in future.
The new functions are developments of state-of-the art technologies and take the i3 closer to autonomous driving by handling more of the control in congestion and when parking.
The firm said: “The parking assistant makes parallel parking even easier and more convenient by performing the entire parking manoeuvre automatically. Like active cruise control with stop and go function, the traffic jam assistant maintains a specified distance from the vehicle in front, and in particularly heavy traffic can autonomously control the speed of the vehicle right down to a standstill. The difference is that in this case the vehicle also provides active steering input.”
Other self-park functions, such as the one in the latest 1 Series compact car, handle the steering but the driver must operate the accelerator, brakes and transmission shifting when prompted by the system.
The traffic jam function relies on camera technology to read road markings, enabling the steering system to help the driver follow the road ahead, as long as he keeps at least one hand on the wheel.
Other OEMs are linking cameras and steering systems to develop other safety functions. Using sensors in the steering wheel rim to determine heart activity, Toyota wants vehicles to steer autonomously to the side of the road and stop if the driver suffers a heart attack.
