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Jen Usher Union Park BMW 1900 Pennsylvania Avenue Wilmington DE, 19806 3027789917 |
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BMW introduces the new Left Turn Assistant, the latest innovation in car safety technology.
Online PR News – 25-May-2011 –The BMW 5 Series has been a leader in innovative ideas in the car industry since 1972 and continues this trend of innovation and excellence with the addition of its new Left Turn Assistant. The Left Turn Assistant is a new tool to aid in driver safety while making left turns.
This system works using two combined methods, the first being a navigation system (that can locate a car within a meter of its position) which reads when you are approaching an intersection. This starts phase two, which is a mono camera activating and beginning to look for road markings indicating a left turn. Then 3 laser scanners activate to sense anything from cars to motorcycles in front up to 100 meters in front of you. If the scanners detect a moving object coming from the opposite direction, depending on the speed of that object and positioning, it will either chime a warning and bring up warning signs on the instrument display and HUD, or apply the brakes to prevent a collision. For those concerned that applied automatic braking may cause a safety concern of its own, no need to worry, as BMW has already installed safeguards into the system. The first safeguard being that the Assistant will only kick in if the car is moving at 10km/h (6mph) or less and the other safeguard being a quick touch of the brakes causes you to automatically reset the Assistant and regain control of the vehicle. Re-applying the accelerator will also reset the Assistant in the event you need to move to avoid incoming emergency vehicles or other potential hazards.
In addition to the features above, the BMW 5 Series Saloon can be outfitted with a WLAN car to X (other vehicle) communication system. This allows your car to communicate with others that possess this device to further enhance your safety. In tests conducted by BMW, the Saloon paired with a R 1200 GS motorcycle equipped with the WLAN was tested. The system trades information such as vehicle types, weights, speed, positioning, and even steering angles. The system can also do things like activate your headlights or on the motorcycle extend the mirrors to provide a larger silhouette; it can also sound the horn to alert the other driver.
The Left Turn Assistant system was developed for the INTERSAFE 2 project which is a consortium of corporations including Volkswagen and Volvo to name a few. The premier of this system is at the INTERSAFE 2 final event on May 17th/18th, 2011.
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