BMW Highway Assistant: Over 200 million kilometres driven hands-free by customers.

Munich. BMW customers have covered more than 200 million kilometres hands free with the BMW Highway Assistant. The function is used daily by customers in several model ranges, including the 5 Series and 7 Series, iX, X5, X6, X7 and XM, as well as the new BMW iX3.   

The BMW Highway Assistant enables hands-free driving on highways at speeds of up to 130 km/h. The system takes over longitudinal and lateral control and supports the driver with automated lane changes confirmed with a glance.    

Dr Mihiar Ayoubi, Senior Vice President Driving Experience Development: “The symbiotic interplay between driver and driver assistance during hands-free driving with our Highway Assistant, and the underlying safety concept, are unique in the industry. Over 200 million kilometres of hands-free highway driving in real-world customer use demonstrate just how reliable and relevant this system is in everyday life.”

With the new generation of BMW driver assistance systems, the availability of the Highway Assistant in Europe is being significantly expanded from just one country to over 20. In addition, the system now provides support from the motorway entrance to the exit (entry-2-exit) when navigation is active using BMW Maps. Whilst the previous generation was available in Germany, the USA and Canada, in the new BMW iX3 and subsequent models such as the BMW i3 and BMW 7 Series, customers can now enjoy hands-free assisted driving on suitable routes across borders in numerous European countries thanks to DCAS approval*. These already include Germany, Austria, Italy, France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Further countries such as the UK, Ireland, Spain and Portugal will follow shortly. In Northern, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe the function will be available at a later date.   

Special safety concept for hands-free assisted driving on highways, motorways and the autobahn.  

Hands-free assisted driving with the BMW Highway Assistant is based on a comprehensive safety concept. This includes redundant systems for lane detection and vehicle positioning via cameras and high-resolution maps. Using information from the side cameras, the system continuously checks whether the vehicle is centred in the lane. A safety chip on the ADAS computer constantly monitors that everything is functioning correctly.   

At the same time, the driver always remains responsible. A driver camera ensures that the driver stays alert and ready to take over at all times. To this end, the driver’s line of sight, eye status and head movements are analysed. The system is designed to ensure that hands-free driving is restricted exclusively to suitable conditions. When the system detects that the driver needs to place their hands back on the steering wheel, it prompts them to do so – for example, when approaching a highway exit.  

For the new generation of vehicles, starting with the BMW iX3, the Motorway Assistant has been further developed with BMW Symbiotic Drive. The function is designed to enable seamless interaction between driver assistance systems and human driving behaviour. When driver assistance is activated, the driver can accelerate, steer and brake as required without immediately triggering a deactivation of the longitudinal and lateral guidance. The intuitive operating logic and clear displays in the BMW Panoramic iDrive ensure that assisted driving is intuitive and can be controlled at any time – for the safe use of the highest level of automation in SAE Level 2.   

* Function naming in USA/Canada: BMW Highway Assistant; Function naming in UK: BMW Motorway Assistant

** Approval of driver assistance systems in accordance with UN Regulation No. 171 for Driver Control Assistance Systems (DCAS)