For the past few years, BMW news has been filled with stories about autonomous vehicles. BMW is allocating an enormous amount of resources into developing self-driving cars and has promised an autonomous car—the iNext—by 2021.
Various reports have described the iNext as being Level 3, Level 4, or Level 5 capable. In the meantime, current and imminent BMWs have been fitted with systems that make them partially self-driving, such as lane keeping, active cruise control, and automatic parking. Are these Level 2 or Level 3 or Level 1? We get confused.
To help clear the air, the BMW Group has released a short live action and animated video that clarifies the levels of autonomous driving. This is actually a nice little explanation to which we may refer back in the coming years as the iNext release approaches and "regular" BMW Group vehicles become more automated.
As you will see in the video, BMW expects to have Level 3 and Level 4 autonomous vehicles by the year 2021. The narrator then says that Level 5 vehicles will start testing in certain cities by 2020, but on the screen, it says Level 5 by 2030. We're not sure if the 2030 date is for fully autonomous Level 5 vehicles or if it's a typographic error. We expect that 2030 is a realistic estimate for full Level 5 implementation because it's doubtful that all the legal, regulatory, traffic control, law enforcement, and insurance considerations will be addressed satisfactorily and in place by 2020. And by doubtful, we mean, impossible.
However, if Level 4 is legal and available by 2021, we might consider an iNext. We would love to sleep through traffic jams and long, boring Interstate sections and be awake and refreshed for the Pacific Coast Highway, a fun dash through the Ozarks, or the Tail of the Dragon.—Scott Blazey
[Photo and videos courtesy of BMW AG.]
