Chauffeurs could become a thing of the past as BMW
has introduced a 7-Series prototype with a Level 4 autonomous driving system. While it’s not a full Level 5
autonomous vehicle, the car can drive itself under most conditions and doesn’t
require a driver to monitor what’s happening or be prepared to take control of
the car.
As a result, people can summon the vehicle via a
smartphone app and it will automatically drive to their location. Once the car
arrives, riders can access the 7-Series through smartphone authentication.
Since no one needs to be behind the wheel, riders
can relax in the luxurious rear seats and initiate a trip via a tablet mounted
on the center console. The car will ensure everyone has fastened their
seatbelts and then drive to its destination. Riders are free to relax during
their trip and the tablet doubles as an entertainment system which can show
movies. While the car is just a prototype at this point, BMW did confirm its
working on more advanced Level 2 semi-autonomous driving features. This
includes the ability to interpret traffic lights.
In particular, the company has developed an adaptive
cruise control system with a traffic light recognition function. Billed as an
evolution of their current adaptive cruise control system with Stop & Go,
the new system uses “camera sensors, machine learning and a powerful backend”
to detect and interpret traffic signals.
This enables the system to automatically bring the car to a halt at red
lights. The system can also detect yellow lights and slow the vehicle down
ahead of making a stop.
