I wrote this a few years ago. This was my first experience with a Driver Assistance System. We’ve come along way since this time. That 2018 X3 and its predecessor the X5 we had were great cars. While I’m not a fan of where BMW is these days, as I prepare for retirement in the next 10 years, I likely won’t ever own another BMW, but I do highly recommend them and not for the flash. They are genuinely great cars and I’m fortunate and glad I had the chance in my lifetime experience owning them.
When I specced out our 2018 X3 3.0i SAV, I initially didn’t add the Advanced Driver Assistant Package, but did after thinking that hey, with the biggest vehicle I have ever owned, that Parking Assistant Plus would be a great addition to help out.
It’s been 36 hours since we picked up the X3, also known as Kumakart 2.0, and I’ve not used Parking Assistant Plus – At all. Yet. Not for lack of trying either.
No, instead, we’ve been using the part of the package that, while I thought was going to be cool, I had some reservations about. After 36 hours, I couldn’t be happier. Seriously.
So what is BMW’s Advanced Driving Assistant Package? Summed up, autonomous driving with a few buts:
- Radar cruise control that keeps you 1-4 car lengths away from another car.
- Steering and Lane Control Assistant – keeping your car in the lane, and it slaps your hand if you don’t use your turn signal. It also steers around bends automatically.
- Traffic Jam Assistant – The car will drive in stop & go traffic for you.
- Active protection – It will ask if you’d like to take a break, tightens seatbelts, automatic breaking in the event of an accident.
- and a bunch of other services such as Pedestrian Protection, City Collision Mitigation, Frontal Collision Warning,
I’m not planning on getting into an accident, so I can only, really, cover Radar cruise control, steering sand lane control assistant and Traffic Jam Assistant.
All I can say is, wow. I’m using these systems extensively and way more than I thought.
And know what? I’m already considerably more relaxed as a driver using these systems. For example,
- Set the vehicle to 100 km/h
- Set the distance to 4 car lengths
- Drive
If a truck in front of me is doing 90 km/h, the car slows down to match and keep back 4 cars. If someone moves in to my lane and is moving faster than me, the car maintains speed. If someone moves into my lane and stays the same speed as me, the car slows down a bit to go back 1 car length or so, and then resumes speed.
If the car recognizes the lines on the road, it will keep me centred in the lane and will also turn with bends in the road – itself. For this to work, though, you have to touch the steering wheel once every 30 seconds or the system deactivates. You should still hold on to the steering wheel because sometimes the car just doesn’t see the lines – especially in winter driving conditions.
What was it like to start?
Well, you’re driving a BMW and you want to test what happens when you let go of the steering wheel – AHHHHHHH! Keep in mind, you have full control, so if you need to correct something, the system defers to the driver.
What I did was turn on the systems and wait for the car to recognize the lines in the road and turn the steering wheel green – This means the car is driving. I loosened my grip. What was weird was, to centre, I find the X3 moved to the right in the lane and then corrected itself to the centre. Although coming back home tonight, I found it moved to the left in the lane and then centred. It’s a disconcerting feeling at first but once it’s centred it’s pretty good.