BMW turns adaptive cruise control visuals into animated cartoons so you can tell what your car is seeing and doing.
BMW wants to reinvent the display visuals we see when utilizing semi-autonomous driving systems to be more understandable by using avatars and animated graphics instead of the traditional display showing a car driving on the highway.
BMW asserts that current graphics are not easily understandable, particularly regarding road markings, traffic signs, and the resulting actions of a car. To this end, CarBuzz has discovered a patent filed by BMW with the German Patent and Trademark Office detailing a new development for such graphics.
Envisioned for use in cars like the new BMW i5, which has gesture-controlled lane-change functionality in its new semi-autonomous mode, BMW will turn the display into an animated world to better communicate what the car is seeing, doing, and how it is responding to changing conditions. Instead of just visualizing a car driving down a highway with other cars shown vaguely, BMW suggests your car could be shown as a Chinese dragon, a cowboy on a horse, or even a dog sled racing through the snow.
Other vehicles around you would be represented by other avatars, like sheep, for example. This in itself isn't all too different from what you currently get in a variety of Jeeps, Volvos, Mercedes, and just about any other automaker. But what will be different is how these avatars interact with the world.
As an example, BMW suggests that when your avatar is set to a cowboy, if the vehicle identifies a new speed limit sign and increases its speed in accordance with that sign, the cowboy could lasso the sign to signal acknowledgment by the car. The horse might then buck and accelerate forward as a visual display of the vehicle's intended acceleration.
Alternatively, the Chinese dragon avatar would breathe fire in the direction of an animated sign on the display to acknowledge its presence.
BMW's patent documentation describes the visual display as being several possibilities, including in the traditional instrument cluster, on the central infotainment screen, or even on a head-up display. In theory, when head-up displays grow to dominate the entire windscreen of a car, such a system may effectively augment reality with animations to highlight changes in the car's behavior based on your surroundings.
If a cop wants to pull you over for speeding, maybe an avatar of a police officer holding a stop sign steps into the corner of the display. Or if a car cuts in front of you, forcing the ADAS system to brake, then the animated avatar could jam on the brakes in cartoonish form with a cloud of dust.
This invention is the latest in a slew of similar technologies we've seen from automakers to use augmented reality technology in new ways to enhance (or detract from, depending on your stance) the act of driving.
By creating entertaining visuals, drivers may pay more attention to what's happening in a Level 2 autonomous driving situation. Level 2 requires the driver to still be paying attention and be ready to take control of the vehicle at a moment's notice, but we've reported numerous times on drivers sleeping at the wheel while Tesla's FSD is activated and the internet is filled with videos of various lewd acts taking place in these scenarios.
Level 3 autonomy – which Mercedes has permission to use in some American states – takes the responsibility away from the driver in certain scenarios. But being aware of what is happening around you is still vitally important. BMW believes such visual representations will make it easier for drivers to understand what the car is seeing and responding to.
Traditional adaptive cruise and semi-autonomous driving displays.
Keyword: BMW Wants Cartoon Images To Replace Boring Car Visuals