ADAS (Driver Assist) Gen 2 From BMW
One of our own Anonymous Cowards has found the following story:
According to MotorTrend, https://www.motortrend.com/news/new-cars-2026-tech-savvier-less-annoying-driver-assist-systems the annoying driver assist systems on many cars are about to have an upgrade, in this case on a 2026 BMW they just tried. Extra sensors and more nuanced software attempt to take away some of the annoyance.
Driver assist technology often works great in the lab and in safety tests, but too often it makes drivers crazy, causing them to switch it off, rendering the development and purchase cost wasted. With its brainier forthcoming Neue Klasse models, BMW is reimagining many of these features to make them appealing enough to, you know, use.
Capacitive sensors in the steering wheel know for certain when you're holding the wheel, so you'll never have to jiggle the wheel on a straight highway to confirm you're there. And a sharper infrared driver-monitoring camera inside the rearview mirror determines precisely what the driver is looking at, because not all "distractions" are bad. The computer allows considerably more "eyes off the road" time when those eyes are looking at the mirrors-perhaps monitoring emergency vehicles, lane-splitting motorcycles, etc. We're also promised way fewer (if any) unwarranted drowsy detection warnings.
The article goes on to describe other details (there are many).
Maybe someday these automated things will trickle down to sensibly priced cars, as often happens with features initially offered on luxury cars.
Personally, I'm sticking with my non-automated car for awhile longer. A generation back, I waited out the first round of high powered airbags, and I guess now I can wait out the first generation of annoying ADAS.
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