Technologies for an on-demand mobility
scenario.
How about taking the BMW 7 Series out for a
spin – and watching a film or even closing your eyes for a while? The
BMW Group makes all this possible – and is providing a glimpse of
autonomous driving at #NEXTGen.
In an urban on-demand mobility scenario, a BMW 7 Series impressively
demonstrates how high automation (Level 4) can transform the
individual mobility of the future.
An empty car, summoned by a
smartphone app, drives up to collect its owner. The vehicle can be
directed to any preferred pick-up point, with access authentication
via smartphone upon arrival.
In Level 4, since occupants no longer have to be directly involved in
the driving process, the drive is initiated via an ODM tablet. The
destination address is transmitted to the vehicle via the smartphone
app in advance and the driving seat remains unoccupied.
Due to safety mechanisms implemented in the vehicle, the drive can
only begin once all occupants have fastened their seatbelts.
Passengers can spend their time in the car however they wish. One
option is simply to enjoy the entertainment system. Vehicle functions
can also be controlled this way: Horn, headlight flasher and locking
and unlocking doors are typical functions that have been implemented
for demonstration purposes. Once the vehicle reaches its destination,
the passenger gets out and lets the car park itself.
To ensure safe driving in urban settings, the BMW Group is investing
heavily in development of environment recognition technology with
machine learning capabilities. Both high-performance sensor
technologies such as computer vision and innovative sensor fusion
methods are used. These technologies maximize the benefits of driver
assistance systems for our customers.
Next-level driver assistance: a glimpse of Level 2 functions.
In addition to self-driving technology, the BMW Group also offers the
latest generation of Level 2 driver assistance systems. Today’s driver
assistance functions use powerful radar sensors to safely and
conveniently control the distance to the vehicle ahead. GPS sensors
and map data are used to proactively adjust the speed for cornering
and driving through built-up areas.
The next level of driver assistance is on show at #NEXTGen: Camera
sensors, machine learning and a powerful backend are used not only to
detect speed limit signs, but also to interpret traffic lights,
allowing speed to be regulated even more proactively and conveniently.
History and milestones: automated driving since 2006.
In recent years, the BMW Group has repeatedly demonstrated its
mastery of key requirements for partially to fully-automated driving,
all the way to autonomous driving.
Back in 2006, a BMW 3 Series drove the ideal racing line around the
Hockenheim Ring all by itself. Test vehicles with Level 3 have been
driving on the A9 Autobahn in Germany since mid-2011.
In 2014, an automated BMW prototype drifted down the Las Vegas
Speedway for the first time – demonstrating how highly-automated
driving can be pushed to the limits.
At the CES show in Las Vegas in 2017, the BMW Group presented
conditionally-automated, connected and personalised Level 3 driving on
a demo drive in a BMW 5 Series Sedan. In the same year, a
conditionally and highly-automated test fleet of 40 BMW 7 Series test
vehicles was also launched in Germany, the US and Israel.
In 2018, the BMW Group opened its Autonomous Driving Campus in
Unterschleissheim outside of Munich and, in March of this year, the
BMW Group D3 high-performance platform went on-stream. This Centre for
Data-Driven Development combines a storage capacity of 230 petabytes
with the computing power of more than 100,000 cores and 200 GPUs.
By acquiring a stake in HERE in 2014 and through collaborations with
Intel, Mobileye (since 2016) and other partners, the BMW Group fired
the starting signal for series development of the BMW iNEXT.
In 2021, the BMW iNEXT will feature the BMW Group’s first secure
Level 3 function for motorways. The BMW Group and its partners, now
mostly working at the new BMW Group Autonomous Driving Campus, are
joining forces to create a scalable technology platform for
realisation of safe and stable highly and fully-automated driving.