BMW Highway Assistant: Over 200 million kilometres driven hands-free by customers. – AutoMart Canada

Munich. BMW customers have covered more than 200
million kilometres hands free with the BMW Highway Assistant. The
function is used daily by customers in several model ranges,
including the 5 Series and 7 Series, iX, X5, X6, X7 and XM, as well
as the new BMW iX3.   

The BMW Highway Assistant enables hands-free driving on highways at
speeds of up to 130 km/h. The system takes over longitudinal and
lateral control and supports the driver with automated lane changes
confirmed with a glance.    

Dr Mihiar Ayoubi, Senior Vice President Driving Experience
Development: “The symbiotic interplay between driver and
driver assistance during hands-free driving with our Highway
Assistant, and the underlying safety concept, are unique in the
industry. Over 200 million kilometres of hands-free highway driving
in real-world customer use demonstrate just how reliable and
relevant this system is in everyday life.”

With the new generation of BMW driver assistance systems, the
availability of the Highway Assistant in Europe is being
significantly expanded from just one country to over 20. In
addition, the system now provides support from the motorway entrance
to the exit (entry-2-exit) when navigation is active using BMW Maps.
Whilst the previous generation was available in Germany, the USA and
Canada, in the new BMW iX3 and subsequent models such as the BMW i3
and BMW 7 Series, customers can now enjoy hands-free assisted
driving on suitable routes across borders in numerous European
countries thanks to DCAS approval*. These include Germany, Austria,
Switzerland, Italy, France and the Benelux countries. Further
countries such as the UK, Ireland, Spain and Portugal will follow
shortly. In Northern, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe the function
will be available at a later date.   

Special safety concept for hands-free assisted driving on
highways, motorways and the autobahn.  

Hands-free assisted driving with the BMW Highway Assistant is based
on a comprehensive safety concept. This includes redundant systems
for lane detection and vehicle positioning via cameras and
high-resolution maps. Using information from the side cameras, the
system continuously checks whether the vehicle is centred in the
lane. A safety chip on the ADAS computer constantly monitors that
everything is functioning correctly.   

At the same time, the driver always remains responsible. A driver
camera ensures that the driver stays alert and ready to take over at
all times. To this end, the driver’s line of sight, eye status and
head movements are analysed. The system is designed to ensure that
hands-free driving is restricted exclusively to suitable conditions.
When the system detects that the driver needs to place their hands
back on the steering wheel, it prompts them to do so – for example,
when approaching a highway exit.  

For the new generation of vehicles, starting with the BMW iX3, the
Motorway Assistant has been further developed with BMW Symbiotic
Drive. The function is designed to enable seamless interaction
between driver assistance systems and human driving behaviour. When
driver assistance is activated, the driver can accelerate, steer and
brake as required without immediately triggering a deactivation of
the longitudinal and lateral guidance. The intuitive operating logic
and clear displays in the BMW Panoramic iDrive ensure that assisted
driving is intuitive and can be controlled at any time – for the
safe use of the highest level of automation in SAE Level 2.   

* Function naming in USA/Canada: BMW Highway Assistant; Function
naming in UK: BMW Motorway Assistant

** Approval of driver assistance systems in accordance with UN
Regulation No. 171 for Driver Control Assistance Systems (DCAS)