BMW have released an interesting video onto YouTube designed to inform about new assisted driving tchnology that they have been trying out on public autobahns. The BMW 5 series car that appears in the video is adapted to include radar, camera, laser scanner and ultrasonic technology which allows it to be put in automated driver mode and effectively drive itself. BMW also developed algorithms so that the car would be able to handle spontaneous events that occured on the road, safely. The technology means that in theory the car would
never break the law, never speeding, undertaking, or completing dangerous manoevers. Unfortunately it is not so advanced that the driver can jump in the back and go to sleep, or pull out a laptop and catch up on emails, as the driver must apparently be ready at all times to take over control of the car. Still, the purpose of driving the automated car out on the autobahn was to test the technology, some of which may appear in new BMW's and could make them more road safe and user friendly.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rjh_5NnDvac