Quote:
Originally Posted by GHN1013
Hi guys,
I’m new to BMW. Coming from years with Lexus and Audi. I’m in process of looking into an i4 or i5. A few of the more important features that plan of using a lot are the ACC + DAPP.
For the i5, I have a few questions:
* With Highway Assistant on, how sensitive is the eye/facial monitoring? And can you adjust/turn off the eye monitoring? I don’t want the system beeping at me every time I glance away for a few seconds.
* Can you use the ACC without having any eye/facial recognition?
* Can you deactivate the changing lanes by head glance?
* How is the overall experience with ACC on the i5? Smooth acceleration / braking? Good lane keeping assist? Etc.
Thanks so much in advance for the feedback.
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My answers based on my 11 months with my 2024 i5 eDrive40:
* With Highway Assistant on, how sensitive is the eye/facial monitoring? And can you adjust/turn off the eye monitoring? I don’t want the system beeping at me every time I glance away for a few seconds.
I'd call it medium sensitivity. I can look to the mirrors, or the side without it triggering. The only times it has triggered for me is when I put a bottle up to my mouth to drink. Sometimes the bottle blocks my eyes a little. As far as I know, there is no way to adjust or turn off the eye monitoring.
* Can you use the ACC without having any eye/facial recognition?
I think the eye recognition is always on, regardless of whether you use ACC or DAPP. One of its purposes is to recognize a disabled driver and stop the car, so whether you use ACC or not, doesn't matter.
A driver could still become disabled, without using ACC and/or DAPP.
* Can you deactivate the changing lanes by head glance?
According to the user manual on page 239, "Lane Guiding with Navigation" can be turned off. Keep in mind, that if you leave it on, it will only suggest lane changes if you have a destination set in the nav system, and you are on a major highway. Otherwise, it will only monitor your eyes for lane changes if you have a destination set and you initiate the lane change with your turn signal while ACC or DAPP is active. I find the feature to work very well and like using it. Even on the freeway, when it suggests a lane change, I simply don't look in my mirror and it will not change lanes. The prompt disappears after about 3 seconds if I ignore it. Take a look at the "Lane change with active guidance" section of the pdf manual starting on page 238 for more info on that.
* How is the overall experience with ACC on the i5? Smooth acceleration / braking? Good lane keeping assist? Etc.
I think it works pretty well, but not perfectly. It requires clear lines on the road, or an obvious curb to stay in the lane. When it has those, it stays comfortably in the center of the lane when there are lines on both sides, or beside the line if there is only a line on one side (like when an exit is coming up on a freeway and the right line disappears briefly). The radar is used for collision avoidance and maintaining distance and also works pretty well. You can adjust the distance between close, medium and far, depending on how closely you want to follow other cars. I leave mine on medium.
One thing that can be improved is the aggressiveness of the slowing down in some situations. When you're not far from other traffic, or when you're not going much faster than other traffic, it's great. It's when you are going 50 mph and there are cars stopped at a light way up ahead that I think it waits too long before braking. It will always still stop behind the car, but rather than slow gradually as you approach the red light, it will wait until the radar "sees" the stopped car at the light, then brake to a stop. Naturally, the radar is only "looking" so far ahead, and if you are going fast and the car ahead is stopped, it brakes late.
I wish the radar was looking further ahead in those situations.
Acceleration is quite smooth, as is the actual stop (there are no jerky stops). Another thing I wish it would do is stop at red lights and stop signs on it's own. Currently, it will notify you in the instrument cluster of red lights ahead and stop signs, but it does not react to them. In other words, you will have to brake on your own, unless there is a car in front of you that is stopped. I don't think the system is smart enough to detect which red lights and stop signs mean stop and which ones don't, so the car doesn't stop on its own when there are no cars in front of you. For example, when I'm driving through an intersection on a green light, but the left turn lane shows a red light, the car will drive though the green light, but still show me a red light in the dash. For those situations, I'm glad it doesn't stop on its own. Same thing with stop signs - sometimes there is a stop sign on the far right for a bike lane, but not for my driving lanes. The car drives through, but also shows me a stop sign in the dash.
Overall, I'm pleased with the system and how it works, and find it useful. I use it almost every time I drive, even when it's just 9 miles to the tennis courts, then back home. However, if you're thinking it's like Tesla FSD, it is not. I hope that helps!