Autonomous driving / adaptive cruise control

BMW i3 Forum

Help Support BMW i3 Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

ElectrI3Dreams

New member
Joined
Mar 8, 2017
Messages
1
Basically, the adaptive cruise control works in stop in go traffic. All you need to include now is lane keep assist and navigation and you'll almost have autonomous driving! How hard is that?
 
ElectrI3Dreams said:
Basically, the adaptive cruise control works in stop in go traffic. All you need to include now is lane keep assist and navigation and you'll almost have autonomous driving! How hard is that?
It can be done, but with the amount of lawyers in the USA, companies are leery until they're sure they've got all of the bugs out.
 
ElectrI3Dreams said:
Basically, the adaptive cruise control works in stop in go traffic. All you need to include now is lane keep assist and navigation and you'll almost have autonomous driving! How hard is that?
Very hard! The i3 has a single camera used in its adaptive cruise control (ACC). Its low resolution limits how far ahead it is able to see, so lane keep assist works only below a relatively low speed (35 mph?). Driving at typical highway speeds with stopped traffic ahead, ACC recognizes the stopped traffic so late that it has to slam on the brakes much harder than a human would do because the human would have seen the stopped traffic early enough to brake gently.

So many more higher-resolution cameras, a lidar, and/or radar plus very sophisticated software run by much more powerful hardware than the i3 has would be necessary to approach truly autonomous driving. Many companies, including BMW, are working on autonomous driving. Driver assist features will become more and more powerful with true autonomy likely within 5 years if laws can be changed to allow it.
 
alohart said:
ElectrI3Dreams said:
.... human would have seen the stopped traffic early enough to brake gently.
.
Well said. Unfortunately so many not humans are found behind the steering wheel that the low-tech autopilot looks like a masterpiece compared to them :D
 
Just a comment...if you have been following a vehicle (icon shows in the display), and that vehicle slows, the i3 will fairly smoothly slow at the same rate. If it had not been following a vehicle, and you then approach some stopped traffic, it takes it a moment to determine that 1, it is traffic, and 2, decides it needs to stop. In that second scenario, it does seem to make that decision later than any aware driver should, but it still stops in time. Without a lidar or radar, the camera needs a few successive images to determine that the 'target' is getting bigger (i.e., you're getting closer), so it first has to decide it's an obstruction, then, you're getting close, and only then can it decide to slow or stop. If you and the traffic ahead are both moving at about the same speed, but you start to get close enough for the car to recognize it's a vehicle, it slows to match quite smoothly. Same issue after stopped...it takes it a bit to determine that the traffic is moving before it will start up, plus, it tries to maintain the gap you've selected. Given what it is, it works pretty well. Yes, it could be better, but it would both cost more and use more power and add more weight...IMHO, the i3 costs enough! As tech improves, volume and innovations will make it cheaper and smaller to incorporate.
 
My ACC does a fast 2 second hard brake every time I approach the same paint cross walk on a street I drive on regularly. Once the car approaches the cross walk the car realizes it isn't another vehicle and then takes off back to 45 mph.

Without lidar I doubt the car could manage autonomous driving well, unfortunately.
 
How difficult is it to retrofit adaptive cruise to an i3 which didn't come with it originally? I have the Parking Assist, but drove a loaner with adaptive cruise and it's pretty slick.
 
Back
Top