For 10 years, the BMW i brand, as the innovation pioneer of the BMW Group, has pioneered the introduction of innovative technologies and production processes into mass production, and then to a wider range of models. As the BMW Group's technology flagship and the latest product of the BMW i brand, the BMW iX combines the latest developments of the BMW Group in the areas of strategic innovations such as design, digital interconnection, electrification and autonomous driving, and the BMW i brand has entered a new stage of development.
Full-dimensional environment-aware layout
The underlying architecture of the software, hardware and software and computing platforms has been comprehensively upgraded
As the latest achievement of the BMW Group, the innovative BMW iX is equipped with a comprehensive environment-aware layout of about 40 different sensors, including an 8-megapixel front camera and a front-facing radar system with a monitoring range of up to 300 meters for the first time on the BMW model, as well as an intelligent environmental perception system consisting of five cameras, five radar sensors and twelve ultrasonic sensors, thus providing users with accurate and reliable autonomous driving assistance functions.
However, the innovative BMW iX, which uses several different sensors for a variety of automation and driver assistance functions, can generate 10-20 times the amount of data that currently produces BMW production models, posing a huge challenge to computing platforms. The innovative BMW iX is equipped with a new generation of BMW iDrive, equipped with the BMW Group's most powerful data processing system and technology platform ever, and its technical features include the use of 5G interconnection technology, Gigabit Ethernet and centralized in-vehicle network architecture to set a new benchmark in terms of interconnect functionality, computing power and intelligence, so as to ensure a smooth, secure and luxurious digital in-car experience on hardware.
In fact, as early as 2008, BMW became the first brand in the automotive industry to apply Ethernet technology, and was the first to realize the importance of Ethernet for the communication of automotive electronic control units, and set the standard for the development of the industry. As cars move towards intelligence, 100 Gigabit Ethernet can no longer meet the needs of the future, and today, BMW is once again the first to use Gigabit Ethernet in vehicle bus systems.
The sum of the innovative BMW iX transmission speeds equipped with the Gigabit Ethernet vehicle bus can reach 30 Gbit per second. Therefore, each sensor data can be quickly transmitted to several high-performance computers for processing, to ensure the safety of each function and the fluency of the user experience, BMW in-vehicle information transmission using a variety of protocols at the same time, to meet the transmission requirements of different data, to further improve the efficiency and reliability of information transmission. Such a powerful computing platform and a new generation of sensor systems are well prepared for the continuous upgrading of cloud computing, vehicle-road collaboration and autonomous driving functions.
Lingchuang intelligent luxury travel
Intelligent interconnection opens up new experiences for digital driving
Thanks to such hard-core hardware equipment, the innovative BMW iX is equipped with BMW's new autopilot assistance system Pro, which provides excellent L2-level driver assistance functions including forward collision warning and emergency braking assistance, lane correction assistance, and lane change assistance. Its latest steering and lane tracking assist system, suitable for a wider range of traffic environments, can be activated at speeds below 200 km/h, and is positioned according to lane markings and the vehicle in front, supporting the driver with steering correction to ensure that the vehicle is always in the current lane, thereby ensuring driving safety.
It is worth mentioning that the new system has also been further optimized for China's unique traffic conditions and driving habits, for example, the minimum starting speed of the lane change assist function has been reduced from 70 km/h to 30 km/h. The new car also comes standard with the Automatic Park Assist System Plus, which includes 360-degree panoramic parking images and horizontal/vertical automatic parking. Especially in the face of tight spaces or broken roads that are difficult to turn around, drivers can also get out of the predicament with bmw's pioneering 50-meter track reversing assist function, maximizing parking convenience and driving safety.
If the new Autonomous Driving Assistance System Pro and Automatic Park Assist System Plus provide greater safety and comfort for driving and parking, bringing smarter and more convenient driving pleasure, then intelligent interconnection allows the innovative BMW iX to open up a new experience of digital luxury driving. As early as 2012, BMW took the lead in introducing connected driving to China, and since then it has actively followed the upgrading of mobile communication standards and provided customers with the most advanced internet technology. By 2020, more than 14 million BMW Group connected cars will be available around the world.
As one of the first luxury cars in the world to adopt 5G interconnection technology, the innovative BMW iX has the function of OTA remote upgrade, bringing customers a "common and always new" car experience. In addition, the advantages of faster data transmission speed and lower latency of 5G expand the possibility of vehicle interconnection with the outside world, bringing significant improvements and innovations to the user's travel experience in the fields of information, entertainment, driving safety, and autonomous driving. On the other hand, 5G will also promote the further application of cloud technology, which will empower technologies such as vehicle-road collaboration, so that every BMW car will become an intelligent and interconnected mobile terminal.
epilogue
Since the birth of the BMW i brand, BMW has been working in the field of new energy for many years, with advanced concepts and technologies, and mature products. At present, digital technology is changing human life, BMW is constantly thinking about the connotation of "luxury digital experience", and the results of these thinking are concentrated in the innovative BMW iX, which includes BMW's full imagination of the future and opens up a new era of digitalization of future intelligent luxury travel.
West China Metropolis Daily - Cover News Reporter Zhang Fuchao