{"id":244816,"date":"2023-11-10T11:49:14","date_gmt":"2023-11-10T11:49:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automotobuzz.com\/?p=244816"},"modified":"2023-11-10T11:49:14","modified_gmt":"2023-11-10T11:49:14","slug":"hands-free-7-series-will-let-owners-watch-vid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automotobuzz.com\/news-features\/hands-free-7-series-will-let-owners-watch-vid\/","title":{"rendered":"Hands-free 7 Series will let owners watch vid"},"content":{"rendered":"

BMW says the future has arrived – from next year its Level 3 autonomous driving tech will become a reality <\/h2>\n

By PH Staff \/ Friday, 10 November 2023 \/ Loading comments<\/p>\n

Probably this makes us sound old, but from where PH sits the concept of fully autonomous driving still belongs to the Johnny Cab in Total Recall or the foam-fillable cars in Demolition Man. It hasn\u2019t helped, of course, that various well-funded development programmes – several run by Silicon Valley firms – have come a cropper, some in court. But rest assured \u2018highly automated\u2019 driving on motorways is absolutely on its way. Earlier this year, Ford introduced a proper hands-off system with its subscription-based BlueCruise tech; now BMW says it will go one better with the new 7 Series. <\/p>\n

Why one better? Well, The Ford option was considered Level 2 on the Beaufort scale (not its actual name) of what it can actually do – and therefore allow you to do. So while it allows you to take your hands off the wheel, you still need to pay attention to what\u2019s happening in case human intervention is required. The BMW Personal Pilot L3 goes one better: its Level 3 capability means that drivers are okay to \u2018temporarily divert their attention away from the road\u2019 and \u2018redirect their focus to other in-vehicle activities\u2019. Legally. <\/p>\n

Naturally, there are some conditions. For one thing, it will only let you concentrate on something else while travelling at speeds of up to 37mph, and only on motorways with \u2018structurally separated carriageways\u2019 (i.e. those with barriers). But if you\u2019re in slow-moving traffic on the M25, you\u2019re quids in. And when BMW says \u2018other activities\u2019 it really does mean stuff that requires your full attention. Not only will you be able to use its existing digital services for \u2018streaming videos from various providers\u2019 you will also be able to \u2018edit emails\u2019 and the like, while the car takes care of speed, direction changes, lane positioning and distance to the vehicle ahead. <\/p>\n

Unsurprisingly, it achieves this through a lot of pre-existing tech – expect to find sophisticated sensors everywhere, including a massive Lidar affair above the grille and inside to see what you\u2019re up to – and what BMW describes as \u2018extremely accurate GPS location-finding\u2019. In fact, it\u2019s the latter that is said to make up a big part of the one-off 6,000 euro price in Germany, where it will be offered as an option on the 7 Series from March next year. No word on a price in the UK just yet, but with UK law now open to the concept, Personal Pilot is tipped to cross the channel later in 2024. The future is (nearly) now. <\/p>\n\n