BMW Connected Drive (ie. turning headlights, and other goodies)

[JonUK]

There's a big (6 page) article about the 'connected drive' BMW stuff, such as the turning headlights, house link, PDC etc at:

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/CARS/new...jsp?dbid=14341

[JonUK]

Touchy-feely telematics

18 November 2002
It doesn't drive itself
In-car information, entertainment and communications provision - and indeed, BMW's own i-Drive control system - may seem complicated and extensive enough already, but today's satellite navigation, on-board SMS messaging, traffic warnings and electronic safety aids are pretty primitive compared to some of the technology that BMW is working on. But - thankfully - we're not going to get the proverbial car that drives itself. Well, not from BMW, anyway.

BMW's ConnectedDrive concept is "the link between the driver, the vehicle and the environment", says Technical Communications man Jochen Muller. "It is not our aim to provide an autonomous system that will interfere all the time. The driver will always keep control and is still responsible for the car."

Indeed, one of the cornerstones of the ConnectedDrive philosophy is driver training. Basically, ConnectedDrive is a "holistic approach", giving the driver or passenger information to make their journey more efficient - though BMW's claims that it helps to reduce congestion are somewhat idealistic - and showcasing the latest in safety technology. Although some of the features of the ConnectedDrive prototypes are a long way off production reality, others are currently under trial.

No good at parking your large X5? Worried about falling asleep at the wheel? Don't like looking at tiny in-dash screens? BMW is working on the answers to the above problems, as well as the cleverest headlights we've yet seen.

Nope, none of this is really strictly necessary, but some of the features, particularly the lighting technology, have useful safety benefits. The main purpose fitting many of the information features will serve is one-upmanship, both on the part of BMW in 'adding value' and for the buyer, who will have more widgets and wotsits to boast about. The wider philosophical implications of personal responsibility are more difficult to analyse.

Parking Assistant
Parking Assistant, incorporating a radar sensor on the rear bumper, can judge whether that on-street parking space is large enough, and then steer you in.

Press a button to indicate that you are looking for a space, watch the symbol turn from red to green if the space is large enough, pull up ahead of the space, select reverse, gently press the accelerator pedal, and you can take your hands off the wheel and let the car get on with it. All you need to do is operate the accelerator and brake, perhaps go forward to straighten out, and keep an eye open for oncoming traffic.

Parking Assistant will sort out the angle to reverse at, turn the wheel and keep up an audible warning as to how much room there is behind. The system can, of course, be overridden at any time, though it can calculate speed/angle algorithms and longitudinal dynamics better than you can, so you might as well let it get on with it.

At the moment, Parking Assistant is still in its early stages of development. The prototype X5 still needs a little help and correct positioning in front of the space, it gets confused when there are people or objects around on the pavement or if the camber of the road changes, and it doesn't always get the angle to the kerb quite right. But when it does, it's very impressive.

Ultimately, the radar sensors will be replaced by ultrasonic ones, there will be sensors on both sides of the vehicle (at the moment, it can only park to one side) and the system will, of course, be thoroughly fine-tuned and de-bugged.

The Parking Assistant project has been running for just over a year now, and it's probably at least another year away from production - a long time to wait if you have neighbours who park by touch.

Adaptive and Pixel Headlights
This may come as no new news to fans of the Citroen DS, but headlights that direct their beam according to steering angle are on the way from BMW too (and most other major manufacturers are also working on similar systems).

Obviously, BMW's Hella-supplied bi-xenon lamps are a lot more sophisticated than the old hydraulic attempts at adaptive lights, being controlled by data about road speed and yaw rate as well as the steering angle, and with a shutter module to produce the variable beam.

These are, says Muller, "very near to series production". Slightly further off, BMW can take this a stage farther with additional input from GPS sat nav and digital mapping - so not only do these lights see round corners, they also know the road before you even turn the wheel. They can also adjust their beam according to ambient lighting conditions, such as the presence of street lights or other traffic.

The next stage on is the introduction of ultra-precise pixel lights. Each containing a Digital Micromirror Device (DMD) chip with 480,000 miniscule 'micromirrors', these are controlled by computer circuits and are mapped to the road.

Initially to be applied as high beam spotlights for specific illumination, these can sense oncoming traffic and dip the beams accordingly to prevent dazzling other drivers, without losing illumination of the road directly ahead, and, in conjunction with radar systems, pick out the shapes of other vehicles, people or obstructions in the road and project them onto a head-up display.

The pixel lights can adjust to prevent reflection and dazzle off wet roads or surfaces, enhancing vision of road markings and signs. Eventually, the controllability of each individual micromirror and chip means that the lights could work with the GPS to project directions and information onto the road ahead, i.e. navigation or speed limits, but "it's still very experimental", says project spokesman Dr. Helmut Erdl.

This could do away with the need for distracting in-dash screens and even head-up displays - at night, at least.

Alertness Monitor and Active Accelerator Pedal
Driver fatigue is a major cause of accidents - the German insurance industry calculates that 24 percent of all fatal crashes on the autobahn are down to drivers falling asleep at the wheel.

BMW's Alertness Monitor, developed with help from Wurzburg University and Bosch, is intended to warn the drivers that they are getting sleepy. An infra-red camera monitors the movement of the driver's eyelids: the slower but more frequently they move, the more tired the driver is, and the less alert.

Assessing the risk in four stages, if the driver is judged to be awake, two green diodes are illuminated, which turn yellow one by one if signs of sleepiness are detected. If the fourth stage - acute danger of nodding off - is reached, the diodes glow red. "We'd like to be able to detect at a very early stage what is going on and what changes", says Dr. Klaus-Josef Bergher.

He admits that the mounting of cameras over the steering wheel is less than ideal, and that the system still has problems monitoring drivers who are wearing glasses or contact lenses, but the basic technology is there. He says that BMW does not intend to issue sleepy drivers with loud warning signals, or trigger shock tactics to wake them up - "we're warning the driver rather than interacting, i.e. informing them that they're dropping off and then expecting them to take responsibility". A gentle reminder rather than a bossy nannying, then.

Operating on a similar principle of politely informing, not intervening, is the Active accelerator pedal. This is not a throttle that makes the car feel more sporty than it actually is, but a safety prompt that, by offering resistance against your foot, tells you that you're exceeding the speed limit (as informed by GPS data), about to hit a tight bend too fast or, thanks to radar sensors, about to hit the car in front.

Driving a prototype with this system wired up, it feels strange at first, and annoying when you can't accelerate away from the lights, but it can be over-ridden (if you floor it hard enough) and is a lot more interactive than some of the adaptive cruise control systems already available, which simply act as speed limiters and apply the brakes. Again, it needs a lot of work, but it's an interesting idea.

It would be more useful - and acceptable - if it incorporated active collision avoidance technology, with automatic emergency braking and steering functions, but apparently this is not possible for another five to ten years.

In the meantime, BMW is more likely to make it 'talk' to the street infrastructure, so it won't let you jump the lights, either.

On a more entertaining note, rear seat passengers have been able to enjoy watching DVDs on a small screen for a while now.

But new laser projection technology, which BMW has fitted into a demonstration 7-Series, could make the picture quality of current systems look like a Seventies Polaroid: a tiny laser, superimposing red, green and blue beams to form its picture, can achieve fantastic precision and a cinema-quality image, projected to look as if it is hovering in space in the deepest recesses of the front seat-backs. This reduces eye-strain and fatigue, as well as viewing pleasure.

Utilising mirrors, the picture can be projected to the front or rear of the screen, and the lasers can be mounted out of sight in the cabin roof. This technology has potential for other applications, not least for head-up displays, and will make it into production cars within a couple of years.

BMW Online - the next generation
But if you've only just got to grips with programming your home video, and haven't yet mastered the digital air conditioning, then look away now.

BMW's next developments in telecomms take the already complex and confusing i-Drive system a stage further to incorporate more internet-based services and even the potential to talk to your (suitably wired) house.

The stadtinfokoln (Cologne City Info) pilot project, with two research cars, is investigating ways to take the services already offered in Germany in the BMW Online and BMW Assist programmes to "maintain mobility in densely populated areas and to reduce the burden on urban traffic".

Sadly, this doesn't mean banishing all other car drivers onto public transport, but instead networks parking and traffic flow information to get you to your destination more efficiently, even if that means dropping your car off at the nearest multistorey with available spaces and taking the tube for a few stops, or walking a couple of blocks.

The system works out the best route and transportation method, can reserve your parking space and pay for it, and give you maps to download to your PDA. It could also incorporate paying for road tolls and congestion charges, as well as fuel and car washes, for example.

In the future, networked cars could also communicate with each other, the police, local radio stations and so on to provide a picture of the state of the traffic in the whole city, so that more accurate redirection can be advised. Apparently, the current set-up is working well in Cologne, and BMW is planning to extend the programme to other cities.

We'd like to see it piloted in London - and see if it can do anything other than direct you to a Park'n'Ride outside the M25. "It's a very important fraction of a bigger picture we are building up", says project spokesman Andreas Dirschl, who recognises that it can only work effectively with good co-operation and coordination from local government and transport infrastructure. And finally, the car that talks to a house.

BMW has contributed a 7-Series to the FutureLife House project in Switzerland, a co-operation between a number of companies to explore the application of online and wireless technology in a domestic setting.

The family chosen to live in the house - a Big Brother-style experiment with built-in online services - can open their front door to identified visitors, programme their oven, TV and video, turn on their lights, let down their blinds and switch on their washing machine, all whilst out on the move. You may well ask why one would want, or need, to do this, but as spokeswoman Annette Lippert says, "it's trying out what makes sense".

BMW is looking at the possibility of transmitting pictures from in-house webcams to the car, so the family can check what their pets, or indeed, their children, are doing. This brings a whole new meaning to the spy in the cab.

[LowTech]

Thanks for the post. Interesting stuff!