With BMW ConnectedDrive, BMW already offers a unique portfolio of innovative
functions and technologies for intelligent integration of driver, vehicle and
outside world. These feature increased comfort, provide a new dimension in
infotainment and significantly improve safety in BMW vehicles. BMW
ConnectedDrive made its debut back in 1999 at the Frankfurt International Motor
Show (IAA). Today this concept comprises an ever-growing number of mobility
services and driver assistance systems, which combine the varied roles of
personal assistant, protector and entertainer. In the second half of 2011, many
more new functions are set to join the BMW ConnectedDrive portfolio.
BMW Live: Infotainment Services via the Customer's Mobile Phone
One
of the latest attractive new services from BMW ConnectedDrive is BMW Live. Using
any internet-capable mobile phone, and subject to data charges, it allows a
limited number of the existing BMW Online services to be accessed via Bluetooth.
All the available Online functions are transmitted by Bluetooth to the in-dash
display. They can be operated easily and intuitively using the iDrive
Controller, with the customer's mobile phone serving as the modem. From launch,
BMW Live will provide free news via RSS feeds, weather information and the
functions Google Local Search, Google Panoramio and Google Street View. To
activate their favourite news feeds, customers simply input the relevant domain.
The portal then automatically searches for the associated RSS feeds on the
website. Headlines can be read aloud via BMW's text-to-speech function. The
weather data, which includes both the current weather conditions and a four-day
forecast, is presented on the monitor in clear, easily readable colour images.
The Google functions offered by BMW Live - Google Local Search, Panoramio
and Street View - work similarly to the functions available in the current BMW
Online system. The start page offers location selection, search box, categories
and history. Addresses found using Google Local Search can be imported directly
into the vehicle's navigation system. It is also possible, using the iDrive
Controller, to select and display destination images from Google Panoramio and
Street View, both while stationary and when on the move. The new BMW Live
service from BMW ConnectedDrive is at present only available in the new BMW 1
Series. Customers can configure this service to their own individual
requirements. Further BMW Live applications will shortly be made available
worldwide (except in the USA, Canada, China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan).
Collision Warning System and No Passing Info Display
BMW
ConnectedDrive uses a single tiny multifunction camera, mounted on the rear-view
mirror, to implement a number of different driver assistance systems. In the new
BMW 1 Series, BMW is now the first premium manufacturer to use such a camera
also for monitoring traffic ahead. The image recognition system continuously
scans the traffic and gives an audible warning if it identifies a potential
collision risk. If the driver is too close to preceding vehicles, the system
produces an acute audible warning and a visual signal appears in the instrument
cluster. At speeds upwards of 30 mph (50 km/h), the brake system is primed and
the activation threshold of the hydraulic Brake Assist system is lowered. These
measures, which are activated simultaneously with the visual and audible
warnings, are designed to help the driver to react effectively in an emergency.
There is no automatic braking intervention. The sensitivity of the automatic
Collision Warning system can be individually configured by the driver using the
iDrive Controller.
The camera system also continuously monitors speed
restriction signs and other traffic signs, and relays this information to the
driver. For the first time, this BMW ConnectedDrive function can now also
display no-overtaking information. The system automatically detects the
beginning and end of an overtaking prohibition and informs the driver by
displaying a no-overtaking symbol in the central instrument cluster. The
rear-view mirror camera also detects warnings relating to current conditions
which appear, for example, on variable-message overhead traffic signs, and can
identify traffic signs that apply just to trucks or in wet weather. All this
data is temporarily stored in the system so that if the driver stops for a short
break, the last-displayed limits and prohibitions are immediately reactivated
when he sets off again.
Hands-Free Tailgate Opener
BMW
ConnectedDrive can always be counted on to come up with pioneering technology,
and one of its latest intelligent solutions in the field of driver comfort and
convenience is no exception. Hands-free foot-activated tailgate opening is a
first in the premium class. Customers standing behind the car can open the boot
or tailgate with a short movement of their foot under the centre of the rear
bumper, without using their hands. The tailgate (or boot) is then automatically
opened and raised, either by spring force or, depending on specification, by the
tailgate lift.
The vehicle is fitted with sensors placed at different
heights in the rear bumper trim, which are able to identify a person standing
behind the vehicle. The sensors can identify the foot "command" by monitoring
the area of the leg between the shin and the tip of the foot. They then send a
signal containing special algorithms to the on-board computer. Access is only
authorized, however, if the system simultaneously identifies the Comfort Access
control unit (the key), which the person must be carrying with them. The bootlid
or tailgate is then unlocked and raised automatically, without hand contact. Key
authorization provides the safeguard which ensures correct operation at all
times. It means that the system cannot be confused by objects underneath the car
or, say, by animals running in and out under the bumper.
Real-Time
Traffic Information (RTTI) Shortens Journey Times
The BMW
ConnectedDrive Real-Time Traffic Information (RTTI) system specially developed
for BMW navigation systems launches a new era in real-time traffic information
for motorists. The real-time information, which is taken into account when
calculating routes and diversions, is relayed to the vehicle with unrivalled
reliability and precision. The system is mobile phone-based, using the vehicle's
built-in SIM card, and has the advantage over radio-based traffic information of
being faster and offering more extensive coverage. This means that much more
data can be used to analyse the traffic situation, and that this data can be
updated more frequently. RTTI covers motorways and main roads, as well as main
and secondary roads in urban areas. If congestion is reported on a BMW driver's
present route, the system is therefore equipped to provide precise details of an
alternative route. With a wealth of detailed information at its disposal, the
navigation system is always able to work out the quickest route to the driver's
intended destination under the prevailing conditions.
The system monitors
the dynamic network connections of mobile phones in vehicles in the area to
generate anonymous mobile location data. The number and speed of location
changes within the mobile phone network allows an accurate picture to be
obtained of current traffic flows. Further real-time data, capable of providing
information about traffic jams and congestion, is also obtained from truck
fleets and taxis whose navigation systems are linked to a control centre. Data
is also obtained from local authority traffic management systems, which provide
precise information about traffic density on urban roads. Coloured markings on
the in-car map display indicate how freely traffic is flowing on the various
roads. The information is updated at three-minute intervals. Through RTTI, with
its extensive data about the intricate road networks of Germany, the United
Kingdom, France and Italy, BMW Connected Drive is moving steadily forward with
the intelligent integration of driver, vehicle and outside world.
Connected Driving: The Future
The BMW concept vehicle BMW Vision
ConnectedDrive provides an early insight into ways in which vehicles of the
future will become an even more integral part of a connected lifestyle. This
two-seater roadster displayed at the 2011 Geneva Motor Show communicates with
driver and passenger, with the outside world, and with the internet, and
incorporates a large number of innovative functions and ideas. BMW
ConnectedDrive is evolving all the time: BMW engineers are already working on
ingenious, purpose-designed solutions for filtering and pre-sorting data.
The
focus is on supplying the right information at the right time. In future, being
"online" virtually anytime, anywhere will become the norm. Connectivity will be
permanently available, without first having to active an internet connection.
Online data will be available anytime, anywhere, courtesy of a worldwide data
cloud. And increasingly, intelligent connectivity with the outside world will
also help to prevent accidents with other vehicles and road users.