[X5 M50i '21]

How well does this work and how accurate is it?

[TurtleBoy]

In addition to the extra safety features it contains, the driving assistance features work very well. I use the cruise with steering/lane control almost 100% of the time I’m driving. This would be on all road types highway, urban , rural, etc. and it does a good job of remaining centered without constant corrections. While thankfully I’m not in traffic jams on Interstates too often, the Extended Traffic Jam Assist has worked great when it has been available

I consider the package a must have on any build.

[Auricom]

It was a must have for my daily 50mi round trip work commute especially EJTA. Makes commute and long road trips relaxing and less stressful. Functionally have had no issues and better lane detection with last OTA upgrade.

What is BMW Active Driving Assistant?
https://www.jdpower.com/cars/shoppin...ving-assistant

Covers:
- What Does BMW Active Driving Assistant Do?
- What is BMW Active Driving Assistant Pro?

Photo of EJTA on during one of my evening commute:

[robby818]

Even in difficult Los Angeles freeway conditions, DAPP does the driving for me. It is a huge improvement over the previous generation that I have on my 2018 G30 (540i).

I was not a fan of any of these packages before my 540i. I didn't even use it for a year. One day, I turned it on in traffic and that's when I realized how helpful it is at reducing stress and fatigue. Even that older gen is able to do a decent job at keeping pace with the car ahead. It just isn't as smooth as the version in the X5 and it won't automatically start from a dead stop in traffic (driver must hit the gas).

I think the package doesn't sell well because it is really hard to see the benefit of it on a short test drive. I was very skeptical that i would ever use it, but once you use it, you really love it.

[Alan l.]

In addition the car also can detect an imminent impact and slam on the brakes for you before you realize it. This came in handy once where i was moving at a fast pace and something happened up front where everyone had to short stop. The car "saw" it before i did and panic braked for me in time.

[hyde]

Originally Posted by Alan l.

In addition the car also can detect an imminent impact and slam on the brakes for you before you realize it. This came in handy once where i was moving at a fast pace and something happened up front where everyone had to short stop. The car "saw" it before i did and panic braked for me in time.

Does it also do that when it senses you might get a rear impact.
My Q7 suddenly pulled us back into our seats by tensioning the seat belts when some idiot almost hit us on the road.

[SmartSaves]

Originally Posted by hyde

Does it also do that when it senses you might get a rear impact.
My Q7 suddenly pulled us back into our seats by tensioning the seat belts when some idiot almost hit us on the road.

I could be incorrect, but AFAIK BMW only offers rear cross-traffic alert, rear park distance control, and rear automatic emergency braking.

However, BMW increases the seatbelt tension soon after you start driving, therefore IMO it is equivalent of Audi. BMW also preps the car if it senses imminent accident; for example changing settings for pano-roof, windows etc.

[zhangyi17]

I spec my G05 without Driving Assist Profesional. I figure I would prefer to drive it myself (even in traffic jam) instead of letting the computer does the driving for me....

[MystroX5]

Originally Posted by hyde

Does it also do that when it senses you might get a rear impact.
My Q7 suddenly pulled us back into our seats by tensioning the seat belts when some idiot almost hit us on the road.

It will automatically steer out of the way if it senses a rear impact. I had this happen on a well documented family road trip with my last G05 X5 50i M-Sport.

Story here:
https://g05.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1580609

[wifesbimmer]

Originally Posted by zhangyi17

I spec my G05 without Driving Assist Profesional. I figure I would prefer to drive it myself (even in traffic jam) instead of letting the computer does the driving for me....

I highly recommend that you spec it with Driving Assist Professional. It is amazing how relaxing driving becomes in traffic jams. The difference is night and day. Please, trust.

[hyde]

Originally Posted by MystroX5

It will automatically steer out of the way if it senses a rear impact. I had this happen on a well documented family road trip with my last G05 X5 50i M-Sport.

Story here:
https://g05.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1580609

I'll read that, thanks.
It happened to me twice on my Q7 where it just slammed us against our seats and lights came on while driving normally on highway. It's very cool to experience, luckily no steering intervention that would be dangerous unless car knows there is absolutely no other car nearby.
I set my warnings to medium to late because there were several instances it slammed on brakes when I tried to turn left on 2-way road, and I generally creep forward, this Audi did not like that because it wants me to keep my foot on brake.

Worst offender is still Volvo, slamming insanely hard on brakes when I approach a red light with my foot on brake lightly coasting, it thinks I won't stop or something..

Audi usually has several stages of warnings, and my F15 also did similar stopping and warning many times because idiots like to jaywalk and one of those thought it was OK to cross against light when someone stopped to turn left, and he did not expect me to drive by to go straight, F15 slammed on brakes so hard that I never thought it would be possible to stop a huge SUV that quickly.

[kandid]

I bought mine in March 2019, so, as I understand I don't have Driving Assist Professional in my car because it produced before July 2019, but I still have all the active driving assistant features including automatic lane change and driving in traffic without touching the steering wheel, but I don't have that fancy UI which shows surround cars. For example, I don't have "New Assisted Driving View" feature in my car:

So, I'm a bit confused, are July 2019+ cars have different hardware or my firmware isn't new enough (I have 07/2020.80)? Thank you!

[ChiefOne]

In my MY2021 X5 XDrive 40i, I have Driving Assistant Professional Package with Extended Traffic Jam Assist and Active Driving Assistant Pro. I use the feature almost 100% of the time when on freeways, and almost 60% of the time when on inside streets. My observations:

- Almost all of the time it works like a charm.

- The system stops the assist with an audible alert at situations such as - confusing or messy lane merges, or at missing lane markers and no leading vehicle in front.

- At least about 50% of the time, the Adaptive Cruise Control tends to be a tad bit aggressive when a stop situation arises. It does not start applying the brakes until the vehicle is too close to the stopped vehicles in front. I set it to have more gap between the vehicle in front, but the behavior remains the same. I am still looking, but I think the aggressiveness is more on inner streets than on freeways.

- I toggled between situation based handling vs speed based handling but it acts the same.

- Sometimes I feel that the vehicle tends to be a tad right in the lane instead of being in the middle. I feel this more maybe because my driving habit is to align to the left of the lane and the vehicle being in the middle to seem a little out of my comfort zone.

- I don't think that the driver's attention camera even works. I tried to test it a few times, but even with my tilted head or while looking away for an extended period of time, it did not alert me. Not sure how else to test this.

All in all, I find this feature extremely useful. I understand that it will take time to stay calm while the vehicle is in control, and I am working on it. But, I love this feature and it works wonderfully.

[TurtleBoy]

Originally Posted by kandid

I bought mine in March 2019, so, as I understand I don't have Driving Assist Professional in my car because it produced before July 2019, but I still have all the active driving assistant features including automatic lane change and driving in traffic without touching the steering wheel, but I don't have that fancy UI which shows surround cars. For example, I don't have "New Assisted Driving View" feature in my car:

So, I'm a bit confused, are July 2019+ cars have different hardware or my firmware isn't new enough (I have 07/2020.80)? Thank you!

You are confusing dates, packages and features. The Driving Assistance Professional Package was available starting in December 2018. What you are referring to is the Assisted Driving View. That feature was only available starting with MY20 vehicles.

Since you have the Automated Lane Change you do have the DAP so you could use coding to enable the ADV on yours.

[jg05]

I ordered the DAPP package after having several versions on several makes and models over the years and a number of times that the systems intervened to avoid accidents before I could even react due to other drivers driving poorly . . .go figure ��

One question I have is about ‘regular’ driving without the Adaptive CC on. It looks like the active lane keeping assist can still help to keep you in your lane without having the ACC turned on. Just want to confirm this. Hope this isn’t hijacking your thread OP!

I test drove the M50i a few times and it felt like it did this but I wasn’t able to take longer drives due to timing. Currently have Audis and the system works well to keep you in your lane without being disruptive (with the right settings of course)without having the ACC on. One of our cars doesn’t do a great job identifying lane markings but trading that one so I’m not going to bother with having the dealer look at/replace the camera.

Just confirming that the lane keeping assist does work when ACC is not turned on and what people’s experience has been.

Where this gets confusing is that BMW mentions lane departure assist, which is different. That is more of a warning and correction whereas the lane keeping assist is more of an active monitor of your vehicle with those around you and the lane markers to keep you centered (or mostly centered) in your lane. Just trying to see if the active lane keeping assist works without having to be in active cruise control mode.

I don’t use the ACC that much but it’s great when I do (again, not on the X5 yet) but the lane keeping assist during normal driving really lowers my fatigue and stress levels on almost every drive in our current cars.

Mind sharing some thoughts/experiences with the X5 since this is part of the DAPP?

Thanks in advance!

[TurtleBoy]

I embedded some comments below in blue.

Originally Posted by ChiefOne

- I toggled between situation based handling vs speed based handling but it acts the same.

There is no such thing as situational based handling is nit sure what you are referring to. There are three modes to the system: Mode 1 is cruise with distance control, Mode 2 is cruise with distance and steering/lane control. Mode 3 is extended traffic jam assist that is available under 40mph on qualifying highways (think Interstates) and is total hands-free.

- I don't think that the driver's attention camera even works. I tried to test it a few times, but even with my tilted head or while looking away for an extended period of time, it did not alert me. Not sure how else to test this.

During Mode 1 and 2 the camera does not come into play while moving (although some have reported that changed recently). During Mode 3 it will definitely tell you if you aren't paying attention. Another way to test it is when the cruise is active and stopped at a light. Turn your head to the side and when the traffic in front of you moves, the engine will start (if it was off) but the vehicle will not move since you aren't paying attention.

All in all, I find this feature extremely useful. I understand that it will take time to stay calm while the vehicle is in control, and I am working on it. But, I love this feature and it works wonderfully.

I agree, it is great and makes driving much more relaxing and less stressful. I use it as close to 100% of the time on all road types.

[ifr]

Originally Posted by ChiefOne

- Sometimes I feel that the vehicle tends to be a tad right in the lane instead of being in the middle. I feel this more maybe because my driving habit is to align to the left of the lane and the vehicle being in the middle to seem a little out of my comfort zone.

- I don't think that the driver's attention camera even works. I tried to test it a few times, but even with my tilted head or while looking away for an extended period of time, it did not alert me. Not sure how else to test this.

Good assessment!

I feel this too but on the left-side as I am in the UK. When I check the mirrors it does in-fact appear central, it's just that you can't judge the far-side of the vehicle as well as the near-side.

Assuming yours isn't faulty, it's apparent my camera is working by the following:
- It presents a 'Driver Attention Camera' error message if I cover the camera. It will do this no more than once per driving session
- It presents a green-light on the CiC/HUD if I'm not paying attention when traffic lights change to green
- When the car is stationary for extended periods, but still with Assisted Drive engaged, it will fail to restart the car when the following car moves on if my attention is diverted. It beeps and the Assisted Drive car graphic flashes. This is apparent as when I look at the camera, it will often then resume driving without any manual intervention

Other ways the camera may impact Assisted Driving:
- auto lane change may disengage if looking away. I believe this is to ensure you don't get too dependent on the lane change system e.g. just press the stalk rather than checking mirrors etc.
- If the DAC spots your eyes are closed for an extended period, or you are looking away, it may disengage the driver assistance steering
- I don't have nor need eTJA, but I would wager it would disengage if the camera couldn't see your eyes were open

[TurtleBoy]

Originally Posted by jg05

I ordered the DAPP package after having several versions on several makes and models over the years and a number of times that the systems intervened to avoid accidents before I could even react due to other drivers driving poorly . . .go figure ��

One question I have is about ‘regular’ driving without the Adaptive CC on. It looks like the active lane keeping assist can still help to keep you in your lane without having the ACC turned on. Just want to confirm this. Hope this isn’t hijacking your thread OP!

I test drove the M50i a few times and it felt like it did this but I wasn’t able to take longer drives due to timing. Currently have Audis and the system works well to keep you in your lane without being disruptive (with the right settings of course)without having the ACC on. One of our cars doesn’t do a great job identifying lane markings but trading that one so I’m not going to bother with having the dealer look at/replace the camera.

Just confirming that the lane keeping assist does work when ACC is not turned on and what people’s experience has been.

Where this gets confusing is that BMW mentions lane departure assist, which is different. That is more of a warning and correction whereas the lane keeping assist is more of an active monitor of your vehicle with those around you and the lane markers to keep you centered (or mostly centered) in your lane. Just trying to see if the active lane keeping assist works without having to be in active cruise control mode.

I don’t use the ACC that much but it’s great when I do (again, not on the X5 yet) but the lane keeping assist during normal driving really lowers my fatigue and stress levels on almost every drive in our current cars.

Mind sharing some thoughts/experiences with the X5 since this is part of the DAPP?

Thanks in advance!

There are two lane keeping options. The standard is the lane departure warning which gives a warning if you are going to go out of your lane. The second one is part of the Driver Assistance Professional package and that is the lane keeping assist which can be set to use steering inputs to keep you in your lane. Either one does not keep you centered in your lane but rather keeps you from departing your lane.

When not using cruise or using cruise on Mode 1 (cruise without steering/lane control) the lane keeping is active.

[M50iMWGuy]

Originally Posted by TurtleBoy

There are two lane keeping options. The standard is the lane departure warning which gives a warning if you are going to go out of your lane. The second one is part of the Driver Assistance Professional package and that is the lane keeping assist which can be set to use steering inputs to keep you in your lane. Either one does not keep you centered in your lane but rather keeps you from departing your lane.

When not using cruise or using cruise on Mode 1 (cruise without steering/lane control) the lane keeping is active.

On my 2021 X5 M50i, the lane keeping assist (where it actively keeps you in the lane) only seems to work when ACC (adaptive cruise control) is also active, which seems to turn on automatically as part of DAPP button on the steering wheel. The second I hit the brakes, the lane keeping assist and ACC is disabled, along with all DAPP functions.

Is there a way to enable lane keeping assist but NOT cruise control?

[TurtleBoy]

Originally Posted by M50iMWGuy

On my 2021 X5 M50i, the lane keeping assist (where it actively keeps you in the lane) only seems to work when ACC (adaptive cruise control) is also active, which seems to turn on automatically as part of DAPP button on the steering wheel. The second I hit the brakes, the lane keeping assist and ACC is disabled, along with all DAPP functions.

Is there a way to enable lane keeping assist but NOT cruise control?

That is not correct, you are confusing the lane keeping assist with the cruise control with steering/lane control.

When the lane keeping assist is active you will see the icon in the IC. As soon as you turn on mode 2 cruise control that icon will disappear since lane keeping is not active.

Edit: Here is the symbol to show lane keeping is active.

[kandid]

Originally Posted by TurtleBoy

You are confusing dates, packages and features. The Driving Assistance Professional Package was available starting in December 2018. What you are referring to is the Assisted Driving View. That feature was only available starting with MY20 vehicles.

Since you have the Automated Lane Change you do have the DAP so you could use coding to enable the ADV on yours.

Thank you for the explanation!

[ChiefOne]

TurtleBoy

Attaching pictures of the Situation vs Speed that I was referring to.