2017 BMW 540i M Sport Features & Options – Video

Technology worshipers have lots to dream about with the G30. As with the current 7 Series, the new 2017 5 Series eagerly double-downs on the latest semi-automated driver aids. The adaptive, radar-guided cruise control with stop-and-go functionality (a must-have for gridlock sufferers) is operable up to 130 mph and has the range to scan two vehicles ahead instead of fixating on the hunk of metal directly in front. As in version 8.0 of Tesla Motors’ perpetual-headline-grabbing Autopilot, this longer gaze down the roadway is designed to improve the car’s longitudinal reaction time. Maybe the inattentive driver in front is unable to check up and commits metal-on-metal crime when coming upon a multi-vehicle pileup. The cruise control should be able to scan the situation ahead of time and optimize the outcome. AKA, not rear-end somebody and keep the insurance adjuster at bay.

 

 

Coupled to the cruise control are sideways assists, none of which are a drift mode. The top-flight Driver Assistance Plus II package (ZDT in BMW code) includes active lane change and active lane keeping assistant with side collision avoidance. Both intend to reduce driver workload by utilizing environment-surveying sensor data and the accompanying electronic situational awareness to fill in for the driver’s mental processing. The challenge is to make them feel natural and human-like, even though that software programming desire inevitably butts heads with manacles such as safety factors and risk-weary legal departments.

Active lane change requires the driver to hold the turn signal stalk in the direction you intend to cut. After ensuring the forward-looking camera is actually reading the lane markers properly, it’ll then make sure there’s plenty of gap between you and another vehicle before doing the deed. For the sake of science, we checked to make sure active lane change wouldn’t attempt to merge into an obvious obstacle (of course it didn’t).