[Pristineship]

Hey guys,

I just recently found out the ACC on X1 is not radar but camera based, which at first seemed like a bad deal, but I spoke with an engineer from our automotive department who works on autonomous car project for Delphi and couple others want to start producing in the next years and he told me it doesn't necessarily have to be a bad thing, and depends on what camera is used - but considering X1 is the low end in BMW portfolio, it is hard to judge without actual data - it could be the new generation camera from Bosch/Delphi that can extrapolate image data in pitch black, middle of nowhere with no other ligth than your headlamps - because it is BMW - or it could be few year old model that has problem working at night - because it is low end model.
But he told me new camera based ACCs are better than radars, they can distinguish people, bikes from cars, they can register turning lights (and automatically slow down, too bad more and more drivers do not actually understand you should use turn lights BEFORE you step on brake, not after),
they are easier to integrate into the car and usually even small fender bender damages a radar in the front grill, but unless the windshield was smashed the camera usually located in the mirror remains intact.

What are the real life experiences with ACC in your X1? And if you can compare with radar based acc, did you see any major differences in how reliable it was - at night, in rain (i don;'t use any acc or even cc in rainy or snowy weather, but if there is just a light drizzle and I am not going too fast I do use acc sometimes in my VW).

[Mr. Saw]

Originally Posted by Pristineship

Hey guys,

I just recently found out the ACC on X1 is not radar but camera based, which at first seemed like a bad deal, but I spoke with an engineer from our automotive department who works on autonomous car project for Delphi and couple others want to start producing in the next years and he told me it doesn't necessarily have to be a bad thing, and depends on what camera is used - but considering X1 is the low end in BMW portfolio, it is hard to judge without actual data - it could be the new generation camera from Bosch/Delphi that can extrapolate image data in pitch black, middle of nowhere with no other ligth than your headlamps - because it is BMW - or it could be few year old model that has problem working at night - because it is low end model.
But he told me new camera based ACCs are better than radars, they can distinguish people, bikes from cars, they can register turning lights (and automatically slow down, too bad more and more drivers do not actually understand you should use turn lights BEFORE you step on brake, not after),
they are easier to integrate into the car and usually even small fender bender damages a radar in the front grill, but unless the windshield was smashed the camera usually located in the mirror remains intact.

What are the real life experiences with ACC in your X1? And if you can compare with radar based acc, did you see any major differences in how reliable it was - at night, in rain (i don;'t use any acc or even cc in rainy or snowy weather, but if there is just a light drizzle and I am not going too fast I do use acc sometimes in my VW).

Radar can not distinguish people from cyclist o cars but Camera based ACC are more influenced by rain, sun and other factors. Perhaps the perfect system could a combination of both.

[X1PGK]

I can verify the fact the camera system worked to distinguish between people and other road users. I was driving down a narrow village street with cars parked down one side of the road. Just ahead a person who had just been to the boot of his car stepped out into the road in order to get in the drivers door. I was straddling the white line in the road but the system must be intelligent not to 'shake' the steering column as it recognised I had no alternative due to how narrow the road was. It then picked up the pedestrian and flashed up the image in red, in the HUD, of a walking man in the road. Works well as does the ACC. No issues yet, touch wood.

[Pristineship]

that sounds good!
not as good as 7er laser lights who flash the pedestrian directly on the road , but a warning in the HUD is really great feature.

but how does it perform at night?

[X1PGK]

Don't know how it performs at night. I'll let you know if I hit someone. 👍

[did75]

Originally Posted by X1PGK

Don't know how it performs at night. I'll let you know if I hit someone. 👍

ACC works fine by night (probably trained to identify other cars lights) but pedestrian detection doesn't (it's in the user manual).

BTW pedestrian detection seems to be the reason safety package comes with black panel as the alerts (I triggered it once) fill up the whole screen. Quite impressive !