Latest news with #automateddriving
Auto Express
3 days ago
- Automotive
- Auto Express
BMW's new ADAS tech: the non-intrusive driver aids you won't want to turn off
BMW's Neue Klasse electric cars will introduce 'smart and co-operative' automated driving assistance on lane changes and overtakes – and Auto Express has tested them in an upcoming BMW iX3 prototype. The new suite of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) uses Artificial Intelligence and superfast processing from multiple sensors to predict and support a driver's intentions. That enables it to execute a highway overtake if the driver looks in the side mirror, or cross the central white lines to avoid a cyclist if you've telegraphed the move with a little steering input. Advertisement - Article continues below Dr Peter Waldmann, BMW's vice president of automated driving, told Auto Express that the new system was designed around the principles of being smart, safe and symbiotic. And that means putting an end to assistance features that drivers find intrusive, irritating or just plain wrong. 'Because they've had some negative [impacts] on customers, drivers may want to turn them off. So we're trying to improve them to boost customer acceptance because ultimately it's safer [with ADAS on].' New-generation BMWs such as the iX3 are 'software-defined vehicles' with immense processing power, 20 times greater than today's cars and the ability to take complex decisions in milliseconds. The AI has been trained on hours of annotated driving footage to help it learn the driving environment and potential hazards. Skip advert Advertisement - Article continues below The ADAS features have their own 'superbrain' chip knitting together data from the cameras, radars and sensors positioned around the car. They construct a picture of the surroundings, locate the car to within a few centimetres thanks to powerful GPS and high-definition mapping, and even monitor the driver to understand his or her intentions. BMW has Level 3 'eyes-off' driver assistance on its 7 Series sold in Germany (costing upwards of €4,000), allowing drivers to watch videos or work as the car drives on the autobahn. But the iX3 remains at Level 2, so the assistance pack will cost much less but the driver remains liable and has to pay attention. Advertisement - Article continues below Here's how the big BMW ADAS features feel on the Miramas test track – with Dr Peter Waldmann in the passenger seat. One button – on the left side of the steering wheel – controls all the ADAS systems and it's contextual. That means it offers you relevant capabilities depending on your speed and surroundings. On the 'highway' section of the Miramas test track, the opaque button suddenly offers me a cruise control graphic. One click and it turns green; time to set my speed up to 130kmh (84mph). Skip advert Advertisement - Article continues below Ahead the Panoramic iDrive display shows me a green steering wheel clasped by white hands. That's confirmation that I can take my hands off the wheel for minute after minute. Truth be told I'm not sure what to do with them, so I clasp them together in my lap like I'm praying. Which isn't due to a lack of faith in the iX3. We approach a slower-moving vehicle, and tapping the indicator triggers a command on the touchscreen for an overtake – select it and the iX3 will do the rest, even moving back into the middle lane once past the overtaken vehicle. The algorithm checks the gap is sufficiently big and oncoming traffic speeds safe before cutting back in. Even more impressively, you can look in the side mirror, then watch the car respond by steering around the hazard. Then you look in the opposite mirror to make it resume its original lane. If you feel like clapping go ahead – there's no need to have your hands on the wheel so long as you're looking ahead. Advertisement - Article continues below The driver monitoring camera is watching and will give a warning after around 4-seconds, and it won't be fooled by most sunglasses. The iX3 also features smart start on the highway: if you're in stop/start congestion, the BMW will begin driving when the car in front pulls away, so long as you're gazing through the windscreen. Dr Waldmann makes me test it with my eyes shut and sure enough the electric SUV refuses to budge. Skip advert Advertisement - Article continues below There's another smart but subtle tweak which will delight many frustrated drivers: instead of a brush of the brakes or a gentle steer out of lane cancelling active cruise control, the iX3 will permit gentle braking so that you aren't forever resetting the cruise speed. The biggest compliment I can pay is during 25 minutes on the simulated highway, I seldom needed to touch the steering or pedals. BMW has tried to create intelligent lane assist where crossing the white lines isn't strictly forbidden. Doing 34mph, we bear down on a stranded car slightly encroaching on our lane. Again by looking in the mirror, the iX3 will let you cross the lines to steer around the hazard – or if you don't take action it will assist with steering or braking. This less binary approach is ideal for Sunday morning drives where there are swarms of cyclists to avoid, without the lane assist pushing you back on a collision course. Dr Waldmann says the system is in tune with its customers, making it an easy two clicks to turn off the audible speed warning ('our customers don't like them,' he observes) and training the system to be sympathetic on an engaging road. Advertisement - Article continues below Skip advert Advertisement - Article continues below 'On a curvy road we see that [BMW drivers often] want to go their own way. We've got a really complex, AI-based algorithm [deciding] if you really want to do [an overtake] or not. So if you look [in the mirror] or steer there, the BMW accepts it's okay. But if your eyes are not on the road or [an emergency] happens, then you get helpful assistance.' We also test the system by driving towards a dummy pedestrian, who's depicted in the touchscreen's graphical representation of our surroundings, Tesla-style. Typically a car would play it safe and stop, but if the iX3 detects your steering inputs it will defer to you continuing past the hazard while remaining in lane, or creeping out of the lane if you won't hit another vehicle. Slow down and the contextual button will offer to take over parking. Machine learning has absorbed so many scenarios, and the sensors have such a wide field of vision, that it may select a space to park in that you haven't actually spotted. And if you disagree, select another space from the graphical representation on the touchscreen. And the iX3 isn't fussed about you being properly lined up: it will choose the fewest number of manoeuvres to slot you efficiently into that tricky space, hands- and embarrassment-free. Neue Klasse cars such as the iX3 will roll-out the new assisted driving features across European countries including Germany, France, Austria and Italy. BMW's vision is to automate highway cruising from 'entry to exit' with hands-off driving and automatic lane changes, meeting the new DCAS standard adopted by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) in autumn 2024. Advertisement - Article continues below Skip advert Advertisement - Article continues below The UK is a UNECE member and has adopted the DCAS standard, but local regulators will need to approve the system. So will BMW offer it in the UK? 'There are no technical issues,' says Dr Waldmann. 'Mapping shouldn't be a problem but there are some costs.' Those are likely to involve configuring the system for right-hand drive. The long list of ADAS hardware – a radar and a camera up front, four surrounding cameras and radars, 12 ultrasonic sensors and the hi-definition map with GPS down to 10cm – will be standard equipment on the iX3. That means customers will be able to switch on new subscription features in the BMW ConnectedDrive store. BMW is extending the capabilities into German urban areas, with automatic lane change and automatic stopping at red lights detected by the forward camera. Over The Air software updates should boost the system's prowess, with BMW striving to enable urban turns off main roads and the ability to tackle roundabouts. The system will also be developed for North America, and China will be key, a market more culturally accepting of autonomous driving features. 'We want to say to European [drivers], you are the boss. So the machine might give you an offer and you say 'yes' or 'no'. In China it's quite different: they might [accept imposed] things western drivers don't want,' concludes Dr Waldmann. You'll have to wait for the new iX3 but you can buy other BMWs right now on Auto Express. Take a look at the best deals... Find a car with the experts Car Deal of the Day: A Volkswagen Golf R Estate for less than a GTI Car Deal of the Day: A Volkswagen Golf R Estate for less than a GTI The Golf R Estate is one of the best performance estates around – and right now it's criminally cheap. It's our Deal of the Day for 9 June. Should Citroen make a new 2CV? Some say oui, others say non Should Citroen make a new 2CV? Some say oui, others say non A new Citroen 2CV could be inbound, but would this be a French fancy or a financial flop? Car Deal of the Day: A fully-loaded Jeep Avenger for under £200 per month Car Deal of the Day: A fully-loaded Jeep Avenger for under £200 per month The petrol-powered version of Jeep's charming baby SUV is our Deal of the Day for 8 June
Associated Press
28-05-2025
- Automotive
- Associated Press
Mobileye Imaging Radar Chosen by Global Automaker for Eyes-Off Driving
JERUSALEM--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 28, 2025-- For the first time, a leading global automaker has chosen Mobileye Imaging Radar™ as a key component of its upcoming eyes-off, hands-off automated driving system in personal vehicles, following an extensive years-long evaluation of Mobileye's technology and competing systems. Starting in 2028, this new customer for Mobileye plans to use the imaging radar to deliver SAE Level 3 automated driving at highway speeds, designed to provide exceptional detection of vehicles, people and objects in conditions such as fog or rain, and at long distances, that challenge existing sensors. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: Colored dots simulate the dense data generated by Mobileye Imaging Radar™, offering higher precision than previous systems. In development since 2018, Mobileye's 4D imaging radar was designed to provide sensor redundancy, through superior perception in challenging lighting, environmental and traffic scenarios, to complement camera-based perception at affordable costs. This is intended to enable safe and scalable autonomous driving systems, from robotaxis to consumer AVs. 'The selection of our imaging radar by this new customer validates the groundbreaking work we undertook to develop our imaging radar,' said Mobileye President and CEO Prof. Amnon Shashua. 'After recognizing how important this sensing modality would be to autonomous driving, we built what we believe is the industry's standard for imaging radar that can deliver the safety and accuracy self-driving systems require.' Existing automotive radars provide estimates of distance from an object, their rough direction on a horizontal plane and a relative velocity. Imaging radars add an additional dimension – height. Built on a breakthrough architecture, the next-generation Mobileye Imaging Radar processes the entire signal digitally — end-to-end — through a Mobileye-designed radar processor. This is intended to enable unprecedented levels of accuracy, detail, and reliability in environmental perception, strengthening the positioning of Mobileye at the forefront of autonomous driving technology. At the core of the Mobileye Imaging Radar are Mobileye-designed, radar radio-frequency integrated circuits (RFIC). These advanced components allow exceptional flexibility in signal transmission and the ability to receive and sample the entire radar signal in a wide bandwidth while keeping noise at a low level, designed to support object detection with high confidence. Those RFICs are embedded in a unique architecture where the entire radar signal is sampled and digitally processed by a dedicated proprietary processor, with exceptionally powerful computing capability of 11 TOPS. This processor can handle more than 1,500 virtual channels at a high frame rate of 20 frames per second. The massive antenna array also delivers exceptional angular resolution below 0.5 degrees and ultra-low side-lobe levels of -40 dBc, and market-leading dynamic range of 100 dB, versus 60 dB in other automotive radars. This is designed to enable the Mobileye Imaging Radar to detect small, distant objects, even in complex scenarios with large nearby vehicles such as trucks or buses, along with precise detection of small hazards like a tire near a guardrail at a far distance, critical for safe highway driving autonomously at speeds above 75 mph or 130 kph. The system works to detect road users -- pedestrians, motorcycles, and cyclists -- at up to 315 meters and identify potential hazards up to 230 meters away. Crucially, where traditional radar systems often fail, such as in tunnels, construction zones, and other complex, cluttered environments, Mobileye Imaging Radar excels. The forward-facing BSR version of the radar uses its full sensing capabilities, while a smaller BSRC version for corner-mounted use has more than 300 channels. 'Mobileye,' the Mobileye logo and Mobileye product names are registered trademarks of Mobileye Global. All other marks are the property of their respective owners. View source version on Media Contact: Justin Hyde,[email protected] KEYWORD: ISRAEL MIDDLE EAST INDUSTRY KEYWORD: SOFTWARE VEHICLE TECHNOLOGY HARDWARE DATA MANAGEMENT GENERAL AUTOMOTIVE TECHNOLOGY AUTONOMOUS DRIVING/VEHICLES AUTOMOTIVE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AUDIO/VIDEO AUTOMOTIVE MANUFACTURING MANUFACTURING SOURCE: Mobileye Copyright Business Wire 2025. PUB: 05/28/2025 06:45 AM/DISC: 05/28/2025 06:46 AM
Free Malaysia Today
11-05-2025
- Automotive
- Free Malaysia Today
Chinese passenger car sales rise for a third month in April
Sales of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles increased 33.9% year-on-year, making up 50.8% of all vehicles sold in April. (EPA Images pic) SHENZHEN : China's car sales in April rose for a third month, up 14.8% from a year earlier, as government-subsidised auto trade-ins mitigated the impact of US tariffs on consumer sentiment. Passenger vehicle sales totalled 1.78 million units last month and for the first four months of 2025 were up 8.2% from the same period a year earlier at 6.97 million units, data from the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) showed on Sunday. Sales of electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids, known collectively as new energy vehicles, increased 33.9% year-on-year to make up 50.8% of total car sales last month. A government scheme that hands out larger subsides to trade-ins of old cars for NEVs than for gasoline vehicles had covered 2.71 million cars as of April 24, official data showed, cushioning the impact on Chinese consumer confidence as the increase in US tariffs on Chinese exports disrupt trade between the world's two largest economies. Car exports slid 2.2% in April from a year earlier, extending an 8% decline in March, CPCA data showed. For domestic buyers, however, automated-driving systems are fading as a catalyst for sales, according to the association. The focus of a years-long price war in the world's largest auto market shifted toward next-generation automated-driving features after BYD announced in February to offer its 'God's Eye' driver-assistance system as free standard equipment across its lineup. But the fervour to tout driver-assistance systems is cooling following a government crackdown on marketing terms using 'smart' or 'autonomous' to describe their technology after a fatal crash involving a Xiaomi SU7 sedan in March. The EV caught fire after hitting a cement pole, seconds after the driver tried to assume control from the car's assisted-driving system.
