What Is the BMW Active Driving Assistant?
All of us are familiar with BMW. An iconic luxury car company that manages to produce some of the hottest and most-wanted vehicles on the market is bound to be well-known, after all. From cars and SUVs to motorcycles, a person can find the perfect vehicle for their needs while still riding in the lap of luxury, if they buy a BMW. But why? Well, the first thing is that these cars look cool. They also have some of the best equipment and accessories. From safety to infotainment, you can pretty much count on top-of-the-line only in a new Beemer, right? Right, and it’s one of those things that creates jealous leers that you can feel from a block away. Yes, the features indeed make a great contribution to this particular brand standing out. And one of these features is the BMW Active Driving Assistant. We hear a lot about technology that assists the driver and thereby makes the ride safer, but what, exactly, is it, and what does it do? Well, these are great questions, and they deserve to be answered, so let’s dive a bit deeper into this technology and clear up some of the questions that fans everywhere have about this great BMW feature.
What Is ‘Active Driving Assist’ by BMW?
To make it simple, Active Driving Assist, or ADA Pro, is a system which provides drivers with a variety of different features which make their job easier, which in turn makes the vehicle safer for drivers and passengers alike. Not only do they aide in driving, but they also contribute to collisions being avoided by alerting the driver to danger, as well as other responses. ADA Pro comes standard on the BMW 5 Series line, as well as the X5. If you’ve ever been in an accident of any kind, you may have asked yourself what could have been done to avoid it. If only you had checked your blind spot, or if only you had paid attention to the fact that your vehicle was creeping slightly into the lane next to it. These, of course, are just examples, but they are examples of the very questions that the BMW Active Driving Assist system was created to answer.
Features Included in BMW’s ADA System
Yes, Active Driving Assist consists of more than a single repetitive beep that tells you to buckle your safety belt. Actually, it has several things that contribute to the entire system. Here are the features included in Active Driving Assist:
• Rear Cross-Traffic Warning
• Forward Collision Warning
• Blind Spot Warning
• Pedestrian Detection
• Lane Departure Warning
• Automatic Emergency Braking at Low Speeds
If you think seriously about each of these features, you can probably remember a time you wish something like this would have been available for you in the past. You probably reflect on how it would have saved you money, or, God forbid, saved a life. While we can whole-heartedly empathize, the good news is that BMW offers this system today, and it is readily available to anyone who purchases a new Beemer.
More About the Features
So, rather than just rattle them off to you, let’s take a closer look at each individual feature in the BMW Active Driving Assist system.
Rear Cross Traffic Warning
This feature implements a shared set of sensors which warn the driver of any oncoming traffic from either side of the vehicle in the rear.
Forward Collision Warning
The Forward Collision Warning feature keeps it’s ‘eye’ out for any potential collision dangers at the front of the vehicle, including pedestrians. This is a great life-saving feature that can ‘sense’ things in its path, sometimes while they are still out of the driver’s line of sight or peripheral vision.
Blind Spot Warning
This great little feature will actually let drivers know that they better check their blind spot before changing lanes. It both provides the driver with a visual alert as well as an auditory alarm, if necessary. Most all of us likely love the sound of this feature, and believe it should be standard on all vehicle models.
Pedestrian Detection
As mentioned prior, the pedestrian detection system works in conjunction with forward collision warning to alert the driver of any potential people or animals who may be coming into their path, thereby resulting in collision.
Lane Departure Warning
This is another cool feature that I am sure all of us wish would have been available throughout our lives. Lane departure works at higher speeds by keeping an eye on the lane markings on the roads or streets. If the vehicle begins to drift to the right or the left, leaving the designated lane, the driver is warned. This particular feature is automatically deactivated when the blinkers are used for lane changes.
Low-Speed Automatic Emergency Braking
This is pretty self-explanatory. At lower speeds, when in danger of an accident and braking is needed but not happening, the system will take over and apply the emergency brake instead of waiting for the driver. At high speeds, however, the driver must be alert enough to do this themselves, if needed.
Sounds pretty good, huh? Anything that aides in the avoidance of an accident is typically welcomed by any driver, and all of these are pretty handy indeed. If ever there was a reason to buy a BMW for other than recognition, the BMW Active Driver Assist System is it.
Conclusion
There they are all the individual features of the BMW Active Driver Assist system. As we stated earlier, this system comes standard on the X5 and all vehicles in the 5 Series but can be added to any of the models by the manufacturer. Even in the midst of the pandemic the world is going at a frantic pace, and it’s best to be as safe as possible, especially on the road. Ask your BMW dealership any questions you may have about the system or go online and check out all BMW has to offer as far as safety measures. Have fun, but above all, be safe.
