BMW plans to equip numerous of its 2024 models—including the new 5 Series, 7 Series, X5, X6, X7, and iX—with the improved Level 2 driver assistance technology.
As long as certain requirements are met, the technology has already made it possible for its cars to drive hands-free at up to 85 miles per hour.
But now, BMW is launching a brand-new feature called Active Lane Change, which lets users switch lanes only by glancing in the side mirror.
The way the technology operates is that the vehicle may recommend a lane change while operating in semi-autonomous mode.
If the driver chooses to proceed, they only need to glance in the appropriate side mirror. By doing this, the turn signal will come on and the car will automatically move into the other lane.
Lane changes were previously supported by BMW’s Level 2 system, but they weren’t initiated in nearly the same way. The driver would need to flick the turn signal stalk in Bimmers such as the iX in order to confirm a move.
By eliminating the need for the driver to use their hands to complete the lane change, this innovative feature goes above and beyond.
It’s not apparent how easy it is to change lanes with just a brief glance in the mirror or how long the driver must maintain eye contact with the device to activate the feature. In any case, I anticipate a lot of unintentional lane swaps in the future because, I’m probably going to check my mirror first before confirming if the car is recommending a lane change.
Even if car cameras and sensors are becoming more and more dependable, I still want to double-check their work to be sure I understand everything.
But BMW’s assistive technologies usually allow for customization, so it’s feasible that drivers may be able to adjust the mirror-look behavior to their liking or even turn it off completely.
Conversely, this feature may just result in more BMW drivers utilizing turn signals, and I believe that’s something we can all support.