BMW Autonomous Driving Assistant System Lets an M235i Drift Itself
According to even the most optimistic, we are at least five years away from vehicles that are capable of driving themselves. Many automakers are predicting that they will be able to offer fully-autonomous vehicles to the public by 2020 at the latest, and many demonstrations have been impressive enough to convince even the most cynical. At this week’s International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, BMW Auto Group –as they are want to do—took everything to an entirely different level by revealing their new BMW autonomous driving assistant system that is not only capable of driving itself, but drifting.
Yeah, you saw that correctly. The BMW M235i Coupe prototype drives better than you entirely on its own. We don’t remember the plot to the letter, but we’re at least 45 percent sure that something like this was one of the first signs of Skynet turning machine against man in The Terminator.
The BMW autonomous driving assistant system was developed by their Technik division in Munich; the effort is a part of their program that aims to make fully-autonomous driving a certainty by…you guessed it…2020. Are we sure that isn’t the actual date of the Judgment Day that Sarah Connor liked to talk about so much?
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According to C/Net’s CES coverage, Werner Huber told the crowd that the system is comprised of a Lateral Control Unit and a Longitudinal Control unit, each intended to handle and interpret vectors of motion in the vehicle. The logistics of this technology are interesting and all, but we’re still stuck on that slide. Come with me if you want to drift.
BMW has created a vehicle that is capable of driverless drifting.
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For more information on BMW’s latest technological advances, and for more news out of Las Vegas this week, stay tuned to The News Wheel.
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