What good is an Ultimate Driving Machine if it can’t get a bit help from its friends? a brand new hazard-dodging system from BMW could help these Bavarian autos get a chunk more chatty, each vehicle chatting with nearby traffic across long-range wireless networks. In a chain of video demonstrations, the automobile maker shows how the automobile-to-x system could give advance warnings of traffic, emergency vehicles and weather hazards by enabling one car to beam warnings on to others. BMW hopes to attach the system to cellphone networks as latency times improve and probably even access data from traffic light systems. Sure, GM and Ford got there somewhat earlier, but you will see that BMW’s implementation demonstrated after the break, and try the via link for more videos of the world’s most boring game of GTA.
21.10.2011
The important thing to intelligent driving, that’s synonymous with energy-efficient and safe driving, is forward thinking. To assist drivers plan ahead, vehicles from the BMW Group are already fitted with a great number of sensors designed to enhance safety, comfort and efficiency. Often, however, these sensors have just a limited predictive capability or “horizon”. “Car-to-x” communication extends this horizon significantly, and may in future allow drivers to “see” long distances ahead, into areas currently hidden from view, or even around not only one but many corners.
Car-to-x communication means electronic networking of vehicles and roadside infrastructure, with the purpose of exchanging information directly both between road users and between road users and roadside infrastructure together with traffic lights. Car-to-x communication is a comprehensive communication network which any road user can participate in.
Car-to-x communication usually operates via WLAN or cell phone connections. For normal automotive application, car-to-x communication today uses high-speed WLAN networking according to the high-frequency WLAN IEEE802.11p/ G5A standard, that’s designed to permit real-time communication. The protocol allows large numbers of participants to speak simultaneously without interference. Even as the performance of cellular telephone networks is improving steadily, with a rise in bandwidth and a discount in data lag – the so-called latency times. Therefore, such a medium, too, is becoming increasingly important for car-to-car communication, let’s say as a complement to direct communication via WLAN.
Connectivity brings added value.
Integrated and connected vehicle functions are nothing new throughout the BMW Group. Connectivity for infotainment applications already made its debut within the 1990s with BMW ConnectedDrive. For some years, the main target of development work within the BMW Group have been shifting increasingly towards integrated and connected comfort and, notably, safety functions. Here, car-to-x communication opens up completely new potential. Within the event of a hazard, extensive connectivity between vehicles allows oncoming and following traffic to receive advance warning of potential dangers, and therefore to react appropriately and in good time. But warnings are just one possible use of this communication platform. Since infrastructure data, too – for instance about traffic light phases – may be integrated into this communication system, information is accessible which permits drivers to simply adapt their driving style for even greater efficiency, thereby significantly reducing vehicle emissions. This technology therefore offers new solutions not just for proactive safety and accident prevention but additionally for intelligent energy management.
“The additional information I even have concerning the remainder of my journey – for instance, if i do know ahead when traffic lights will change, or if i do know that an accident has just happened further along the route – the more promptly i’m able to react, which implies i’ve less stress and will either avoid hazardous situations altogether or a minimum of reduce the danger.” (Karl-Ernst Steinberg, Head of info and Communication Technologies at BMW Group Research and Technology).
Together with existing vehicle sensors, car-to-x communication provides a valuable place to begin or enhancement for a variety of BMW ConnectedDrive driver assistance and knowledge systems of the longer term. These technologies, combined with the driver’s own input, create an exceedingly high-performance macrosystem in a position to ensuring a secure and efficient journey from begin to finish.
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