BMW i7 and 7 Series gets BMW Personal Pilot L3 – lidar, highway self driving up to 60 km/h in Germany
BMW has announced that it will be offering SAE Level 3 autonomous on the BMW 7 Series and i7. The catch is it will be available only in Germany and it’s a 6,000 Euro option.
This isn’t just a software unlock, as it requires hardware to support it. For this model, you can see a Lidar sensor has been installed at the top edge of the kidney grille.
It won’t be available everywhere in Germany either. Supported routes have to be included in a set of live HD maps for it to work. Lastly, the system works at speeds of up to 60 km/h only.
Symbols appear on the display behind the steering wheel as appropriate to indicate whether the BMW Personal Pilot L3 is available. It is activated and deactivated by a button on the steering wheel.
When the function is being used, the customer still has to be ready to reassume the task of driving at any time – i.e. as soon as the situation on the road requires them to or the stretch of road suitable for using the BMW Personal Pilot L3 comes to an end.
Visual and acoustic signals let the driver know they have to take over control once more. If the driver does not respond as required, the vehicle is brought to a controlled standstill.
This new Level 3 system is an upgrade over the Level 2 system called BMW Highway Assistant offered in the new 5 Series, which by the way is also a market limited offering, currently available only in USA, Canada and Germany.
When travelling at up to 130 km/h (81 mph), BMW’s Level 2 system allows the Steering and Lane Control Assistant to take control over the car’s speed, the distance to the vehicle in front and the car’s steering.
The crucial difference between Level 2 and Level 3 is that with Level 2 (partially automated driving) responsibility continues to lie with the driver at all times. Whenever the BMW Highway Assistant is in use, drivers must watch what is happening on the road and be able to take over the task of driving again at all times. This is continuously monitored using an intelligent attentiveness camera.
The Level 3 system does not require you to pay attention to the road. It gives drivers the option of concentrating on secondary in-vehicle activities away from what is happening on the road, such as streaming videos from various providers on the central iDrive display.
Of course, in Malaysia the owner of a 7 Series or i7 would most likely be sitting in the back seat and has a dedicated human driver. Still, it’s fun to watch progress happen.
VIDEO: BMW Personal Pilot L3 demo
VIDEO: BMW L3 vs L2 systems
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