BMW reveals future safety tech

As city streets get more congested with the steady rise in new cars each year, the number of complicated driving situations will inevitably rise as well. That’s why carmakers are working hard to develop new safety features which assist with driving tasks and, as a result, significantly enhance safety for all road users. We recently saw the launch of new lane change and blind spot warning systems, and now BMW has given us a look at its safety technology roadmap for the future.

The way forward in safety system development at BMW lies in the area of ‘active’ safety features. These systems assist the driver at the crucial moments before an accident, where driver errors can be mitigated or corrected and accidents can be anticipated and averted.

Engineers have developed several new technologies that will eventually be making their way into BMW’s road cars. These include an emergency braking system for protecting pedestrians, an intersection assistant, a wrong-way driver information system and a curve information system.

Another avenue being investigated includes a vehicle-to-vehicle communication system whereby cars would be able to communicate intelligently with each other and with their environment.

One aspect we like is BMW’s notion that the ultimate responsibility for using a vehicle lies with the driver, who will always be able to override or switch off the systems.