In December, BMW Group's vehicles equipped with Level 3 autonomous driving functions officially obtained a high-speed autonomous driving test license in Shanghai.
In the future, under the supervision and guidance of the Shanghai Municipal Government, BMW will carry out autonomous driving road tests on L3 high-speed roads in designated areas. The BMW Group's Level 3 autonomous driving is the first product to comply with the UN ECE R157 ALKS regulation and to be tested on high-speed roads in China. In the future, BMW will pay close attention to the requirements of Chinese regulations and is committed to developing autonomous driving systems with the highest safety standards, bringing Level 3 autonomous driving functions to the market at the right time to meet the high-end needs of Chinese consumers for intelligent driving.
For a long time, BMW's R&D team in China has been actively engaged in the localization of L3 autonomous driving, and has been fully prepared for the adaptation and application of L3 autonomous driving functions in China in the future in accordance with regulatory requirements, so as to meet the complex traffic conditions in China and the driving characteristics of Chinese customers. The all-new BMW 5 Series Long Wheelbase Edition, which will be launched soon, is already technically capable of extending to Level 3 autonomous driving.
The BMW Group has already been approved by the German Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) for strict technical regulations and has been certified and approved for Level 3 autonomous driving functions. BMW models equipped with this function will be delivered to customers in Germany in the spring of 2024. Up to now, the German Federal Motor Transport Administration has only approved Level 3 autonomous driving functions for a very small number of car manufacturers, and the BMW Group's technical recognition fully shows that BMW has become one of the leading car manufacturers to achieve high-level autonomous driving.
The BMW Group already has a very mature and complete R&D system for Level 3 autonomous driving. The BMW Group's endurance tests and the analysis of thousands of simulated scenarios, combined with the current level of road traffic safety, will enable the highest level of system safety in high-level autonomous vehicles. The L3 autonomous driving technology suite can integrate more high-performance sensors, such as new lidar systems, and correlate all sensor information with long-range radar and front-facing camera data to build a complete environmental model of L3 autonomous vehicles. BMW's Level 3 autonomous driving is equipped with LiDAR that provides its unique perception capabilities. The 8-megapixel front-facing camera on the windshield detects pedestrians, vehicles, traffic signs, and other objects in the environment from a distance, keeping people inside and outside the vehicle safe. Based on this, when the Level 3 autonomous driving function is activated, the driver can make better use of the time in the car and enjoy in-car audio and video entertainment such as games and streaming videos on the road.
In July this year, the BMW Group opened its Future Mobility Development Center in Sokolov, Czech Republic, in order to focus its efforts on R&D and testing of driver assistance systems and autonomous driving technologies. The Future Mobility Development Center has BMW's largest test site in the world, dedicated to testing Level 3 and Level 4 autonomous driving and parking technologies, and is able to test all possible driving scenarios with extreme flexibility and efficiency, and continuously test multiple scenarios to achieve real, reliable and customer-oriented test results. As the standards for autonomous driving level increase, the complexity of technology development will also increase exponentially. BMW will always adhere to the highest level of safety standards to develop different levels of autonomous driving systems to provide users with a safe, pleasant and comfortable driving experience.
At present, the all-new BMW 5 Series uses Level 2+ intelligent driving assistance systems, and introduces the first BMW automatic lane change assist function. On high-speed highways, in the speed range of 60 km/h to 180 km/h, the driver attention monitoring system continuously tracks the driver's status. When it is time to overtake, the system will judge the surrounding traffic conditions and automatically give the driver a lane change prompt, and the driver can easily check the traffic situation by looking in the rearview mirror to confirm the automatic lane change. BMW will adhere to the concept of "driver-oriented" and pursue "intelligent human-vehicle co-driving", and perfectly integrate driving experience with the system's safety strategy.
Proofread by Li Haihui