[magicvii]

Not sure if this is the right forum to post this, but I’ve noticed that when I turn on assisted driving, the hands free time has reduced greatly. Now the yellow steering wheel indicator turns on every 5 seconds which is kind of ridiculous. I was driving locally at 30-40 mph. Anyone else ever experienced similar issues?

[maechthildt]

Maybe your steering wheel is blocking the eye sensor in the dashboard?

[AP]

What’s changed then? It behaviour shouldn’t change if all things remain the same

As mentioned earlier if camera blocked that will reduce time. You should hear faint audible blip if you are looking away aswell

Are you on different roads?
Where are you based as I believe there are differences in markets. The use gets assisted driving plus mode which we don’t get in the U.K.
(Regulations presumably)
If you are on a motorway/freeway that seems to in general allow a longer time as it presumably detects both car in front and lane markings

[bloozemanAZ]

First and foremost as always the question in play is what iD7 release is on the car? Granted BMW is not the greatest with release notes but up through 02/2023 the only change called out for full driving assistance is a reduction aka smoother lane change when in full assist.

I just did a 1.5 hour (one way) road trip for the 4th of July week holiday and when on boring stretches was in full drivers assistance. Hands off the wheel was much greater than 5 seconds before the yellow indicator would light up. In general I appreciate the function but always keep my hands on the wheel albeit one, i.e., my left hand as I'm left handed and it doesn't take too much pressure for it to recognize it. However, as I got a bit lazy obviously the pressure lightened and then I'd get the nag.
I'm guessing at least 10 seconds if not greater but obviously not an empirical value.

When it comes to the function in which the car prompts literally 100% assistance plus (based on the road, generally stop and go traffic and absolutely under 40MPH) it primarily depends on the LIDAR camera in the cockpit to ensure eyes on the road as you can completely take your hands off the wheel. I've only had this kick in twice when stuck in stop/go traffic on a main freeway here in Phoenix. It worked like a champ as although I had my hands off the wheel my foot was near the brake at all times just in case even though I've never had a single issue with the ACC on the car as it keeps the distance set for car lengths, speed, etc. to the point it will stop and restart movement as needed even when not in full assistance but ACC only.

[rdown1976]

dumb question, but I am a newbie. Does driver assist mean hands free driving? If so, how do I set it.

[Kansr]

Originally Posted by rdown1976

dumb question, but I am a newbie. Does driver assist mean hands free driving? If so, how do I set it.

Do you have acc?

[rdown1976]

Originally Posted by Kansr

Do you have acc?

What is ACC?

[bloozemanAZ]

Originally Posted by rdown1976

dumb question, but I am a newbie. Does driver assist mean hands free driving? If so, how do I set it.

The car has to have Driving Assistance Pro in order to activate it. If your car has it the lower left buttons on the steering wheel engages it. Not sure if the models with only Driving Assistance have cruise control but if so it's old school vs AAC.

[bloozemanAZ]

Originally Posted by rdown1976

What is ACC?

Active Cruise Control which uses a camera in the front of the car to judge distance between it and any car in front. So for example if you put the ACC at 80MPH but approach a car in front within the same lane it will automatically lower the speed to whatever that car is doing, e.g., 75MPH. Plus you get to set how many car lengths of distance you want between you and the car in front.

[magicvii]

Originally Posted by bloozemanAZ

First and foremost as always the question in play is what iD7 release is on the car? Granted BMW is not the greatest with release notes but up through 02/2023 the only change called out for full driving assistance is a reduction aka smoother lane change when in full assist.

I just did a 1.5 hour (one way) road trip for the 4th of July week holiday and when on boring stretches was in full drivers assistance. Hands off the wheel was much greater than 5 seconds before the yellow indicator would light up. In general I appreciate the function but always keep my hands on the wheel albeit one, i.e., my left hand as I'm left handed and it doesn't take too much pressure for it to recognize it. However, as I got a bit lazy obviously the pressure lightened and then I'd get the nag.
I'm guessing at least 10 seconds if not greater but obviously not an empirical value.

When it comes to the function in which the car prompts literally 100% assistance plus (based on the road, generally stop and go traffic and absolutely under 40MPH) it primarily depends on the LIDAR camera in the cockpit to ensure eyes on the road as you can completely take your hands off the wheel. I've only had this kick in twice when stuck in stop/go traffic on a main freeway here in Phoenix. It worked like a champ as although I had my hands off the wheel my foot was near the brake at all times just in case even though I've never had a single issue with the ACC on the car as it keeps the distance set for car lengths, speed, etc. to the point it will stop and restart movement as needed even when not in [...]

Thank you for your input! The car is running on the 03/2023 update. The hands free interval on my car used to also be much more than 5 seconds (I’d also say about 10 seconds), but starting from last week I noticed this sudden reduction down to 5 seconds. The wheel is not blocking the camera and I was driving fairly slow around 30-40 mph. Also, I took it to the dealership a month ago to get the front grill swapped and also get the front bumper painted to cover the front plate holes. I can’t say for certain but I feel like ever since that the ACC has been working less well. It doesn’t detect lane as accurately as before, and sometimes when the car in the front changes lane it would just follow that car to the new lane. I should probably get it checked.

[Dr Thrillride]

Originally Posted by magicvii

Also, I took it to the dealership a month ago to get the front grill swapped and also get the front bumper painted to cover the front plate holes.

I thought our bumpers weren’t to be painted at all, just replaced, due to all the sensors etc?

[maechthildt]

Originally Posted by Dr Thrillride

I thought our bumpers weren’t to be painted at all, just replaced, due to all the sensors etc?

The new ones also have to be painted at one point. So there must be a way to paint them correctly.

[Beemer5to3]

Originally Posted by AP

What’s changed then? It behaviour shouldn’t change if all things remain the same

As mentioned earlier if camera blocked that will reduce time. You should hear faint audible blip if you are looking away aswell

Are you on different roads?
Where are you based as I believe there are differences in markets. The use gets assisted driving plus mode which we don’t get in the U.K.
(Regulations presumably)
If you are on a motorway/freeway that seems to in general allow a longer time as it presumably detects both car in front and lane markings

We do get that - it’s just an option. I have Driving Assistant Professional on my car.

[bloozemanAZ]

Originally Posted by magicvii

Thank you for your input! The car is running on the 03/2023 update. The hands free interval on my car used to also be much more than 5 seconds (I’d also say about 10 seconds), but starting from last week I noticed this sudden reduction down to 5 seconds. The wheel is not blocking the camera and I was driving fairly slow around 30-40 mph. Also, I took it to the dealership a month ago to get the front grill swapped and also get the front bumper painted to cover the front plate holes. I can’t say for certain but I feel like ever since that the ACC has been working less well. It doesn’t detect lane as accurately as before, and sometimes when the car in the front changes lane it would just follow that car to the new lane. I should probably get it checked.

Oh bummer as I'm still on 07/2022.85 as 11/2022.60 never has OTA installed. Taking the car in for service tomorrow for a tire issue but also asking for an iDrive update given the OTA failures. I'll likely end up with 03/2023 or possibly 07/2023 as believe it's out now.

Either way depending on the version I'll test out the full driving assistance mode and let you know what hands off the wheel time is with it in place. The paint may have messed up the ACC camera or they didn't pull the bumper before painting or didn't realign the cameras after re-installing.

I say the that as I have a ding in my front bumper I've been living with as it's not really noticeable but did get an estimate from Penske collision after it happened. The bumpers are plastic and with the minimal damage they said they'd just remove the PPF and fill in what was necessary, shape it to match the factory spec (it's a bit of a gouge) and paint blend to match.

Key though as they included labor for dropping the bumper and realigning all cameras if needed. The estimator said the latter may or may not be needed, i.e., the camera alignment after the bumper is reinstalled but included it just for full transparency on the potential total cost which I appreciated.

[bloozemanAZ]

Originally Posted by magicvii

Thank you for your input! The car is running on the 03/2023 update. The hands free interval on my car used to also be much more than 5 seconds (I’d also say about 10 seconds), but starting from last week I noticed this sudden reduction down to 5 seconds. The wheel is not blocking the camera and I was driving fairly slow around 30-40 mph. Also, I took it to the dealership a month ago to get the front grill swapped and also get the front bumper painted to cover the front plate holes. I can’t say for certain but I feel like ever since that the ACC has been working less well. It doesn’t detect lane as accurately as before, and sometimes when the car in the front changes lane it would just follow that car to the new lane. I should probably get it checked.

Just an update after having my dealer upgrade the M850i to 07/2023.33 and doing some DAP testing over the past few weeks. I could tell almost immediately that the yellow warning time has indeed been reduced (likely introduced in 03/2023 or 11/2022) to what felt like 5 seconds or so.

Further testing using the stopwatch app on my cell phone it is indeed 5 seconds now vs the original 10. However, it feels like the red warning is the same amount of time and kicks in at 20 seconds (confirmed with the stopwatch app). So the update reduced the time before the yellow alert starts but left the amount of time it will run before the red alert kicks in. I'm guessing this was a "safety" enhancement.

No changes to lane detection, ACC performance or oddball following the car in front out of the lane if it does so as per your experience. Hopefully your dealer helped resolve that and likely ties back to the bumper/grill work impacting the camera or sensors.

[BMWGUYinCO]

I've also noticed that the Driving Assistance Plus time has been greatly reduced (completely automated driving in slow moving traffic). No matter how intently I stare straight ahead and don't move my head from side to side, the system displays the "Stay Alert!" message after only a few minutes and forces my hands back on the wheel.

Annoying, as this defeats the purpose of the system.

[bloozemanAZ]

Originally Posted by BMWGUYinCO

I've also noticed that the Driving Assistance Plus time has been greatly reduced (completely automated driving in slow moving traffic). No matter how intently I stare straight ahead and don't move my head from side to side, the system displays the "Stay Alert!" message after only a few minutes and forces my hands back on the wheel.

Annoying, as this defeats the purpose of the system.

That's odd as got to use it once in stop and go traffic with the ACC set to 74 (speed limit 64) and Plus kicked in once stop and go. Worked flawless with no hands on the wheel until I hit 41MPH in which it automatically disengaged and went back to standard with hands on the wheel required.

[Rom207]

The bumpers are plastic and with the minimal damage they said they'd just remove the PPF and fill in what was necessary, shape it to match the factory spec (it's a bit of a gouge) and paint blend to match.

[BMWGUYinCO]

Originally Posted by bloozemanAZ

That's odd as got to use it once in stop and go traffic with the ACC set to 74 (speed limit 64) and Plus kicked in once stop and go. Worked flawless with no hands on the wheel until I hit 41MPH in which it automatically disengaged and went back to standard with hands on the wheel required.

How long were you in stop and go traffic? Mine begins to work when I initiate it, but then after 3 or 4 minutes I get that "Stay Alert" and forces my hands back on the wheel. I have also ensured that eye monitoring thingy in the dash is unobstructed.

[bloozemanAZ]

Originally Posted by BMWGUYinCO

How long were you in stop and go traffic? Mine begins to work when I initiate it, but then after 3 or 4 minutes I get that "Stay Alert" and forces my hands back on the wheel. I have also ensured that eye monitoring thingy in the dash is unobstructed.

Ah the irony on the question as hit it again today, i.e., stop and go so Plus kicked in. I'm chauffeuring my wife this week so the new X5 stays in the garage until PPF'd (dropped it off this morning and picking up sometime tomorrow) as her commute includes a stretch of highway for about 18 miles that is rock chip hell in both directions as feeder for the gravel quarries.

Heading back after dropping her off there was an accident so I was in stop/go traffic for 20 minutes and about 10 miles. Plus engaged and worked flawlessly. I had set the ACC to 75 before hitting the blockage so once stop/go under 40 got the plus prompt and engaged. Stayed engaged the whole time until a little break in which the car hit 41 and then instantaneous red wheel alert and hands on the wheel.

Stop/go again and plus engaged the rest of the way until passed the accident and traffic moved. Immediately at 41mph (I was monitoring) and red wheel alert, plus disengaged and left hand 2 fingers back on the wheel. I guess my only question would be why red vs yellow? Guessing to get one's attention plus is disengaged and time for hands on the wheel again.

[Rob_G77]

Originally Posted by Rom207

The bumpers are plastic and with the minimal damage they said they'd just remove the PPF and fill in what was necessary, shape it to match the factory spec (it's a bit of a gouge) and paint blend to match.

BMW cars with driver assist featurers should have bumpers replaced, not repaired like that. There are radar sensors behind the plastic in each corner (front and back).

Rob

[bloozemanAZ]

Originally Posted by BMWGUYinCO

I've also noticed that the Driving Assistance Plus time has been greatly reduced (completely automated driving in slow moving traffic). No matter how intently I stare straight ahead and don't move my head from side to side, the system displays the "Stay Alert!" message after only a few minutes and forces my hands back on the wheel.

Annoying, as this defeats the purpose of the system.

Forgot to ask earlier as to what iD7 release your on. That may be a factor with a bug in it. As stated at least 07/2023.33 is working flawlessly.