BMW goes night vision on us

It might take some getting used to checking out your dash and seeing something that looks more akin to those military helicopter infra-red target tracking shots, but BMW is adding a night-vision display in new 7-series models for evening driving.  The QVGA (320 x 240) camera goes along with their new high-beam assist feature (which itself monitors the road for other vehicles and adjusts the high-beams accordingly when no one is around), and scans at up to about 1,000 feet in front of the vehicle, even swiveling horizontally with the headlights during turns. Too bad your alibi about watching TV while driving as you hit your neighbor's mailbox just just got blown.

[eMarrs @ Dec 19th 2005 1:02AM]

didnt i see a post about hummers with these in them? Either way its dope.

[CR @ Dec 19th 2005 1:02AM]

Trying to save lives, while also causing more to be lost.

[Matt @ Dec 19th 2005 1:02AM]

Hey, you guys are quick. I work for a BMW dealership and I haven't even heard about this one yet.

[chris @ Dec 19th 2005 1:02AM]

either that or your slow Matt ;)

[LaserSoup @ Dec 19th 2005 1:02AM]

Didn't some other car company like Cadillac or Oldsmobile try this a while ago?

[james @ Dec 19th 2005 1:02AM]

When are they going to have the option to project this onto the windshield so you don't have to look to down and to the right? My eyes would be looking ahead, then see this flash of white in the road out of my peripheral vision and have it be a coke can and scare me half to death thinking it was some sort of animal. Maybe I�m just bitter because it�s not in my car yet, ha

[TIMMAH! @ Dec 19th 2005 1:02AM]

I think this system is pretty lame. The night vision thing should augment your existing field of view not create a new distraction that forces you to take your eyes off of the road. Cadillac's version of this system where it puts the infrared heat image up HUD-style is a better approach (although still not perfect since the image is a different size which still forces you to have to correlate what you are seeing outside with what is being displayed.)

[emehrkay @ Dec 19th 2005 1:02AM]

matt how could you have not heard of this? do your homework lol. the new sclass has this exact tech built in, its just behind the steering wheel

[some_bloke @ Dec 19th 2005 1:02AM]

First and foremost, the Caddy's system uses a HUD which happens to obscure a good portion of the driver's vision out the windshield. I've seen the system and it glares back at you in a really annoying fashion. Given the fact that drivers got along without IR cameras in the front of their cars for decades, I don't see a need to obscure primary information (the view through the windshield) with what is easily categorized with secondary information (some IR camera gizmo with a very limited field of view).

Second, the system only highlights items that are radiating heat. The coke can, Twinkey wrapper or other similar item isn't going to show up. A car (hot engine and exhaust), animal (deer) or person is going to show up as a bright white object. It is pretty safe to assume that MOST objects that propel themselves onto the middle of a high speed roadway are going to be giving off heat to get there which is why the system has a pretty good chance of being effective.

Finally, the fact that the display is offset from the primary vision area is fine- pilots in fighter aircraft have had to look down for targeting information (radar displays, camera monitors and similar IR monitors) since the 50s and 60s. Those aircraft displays often have FAR more intricate information contained on them and the pilots are flying in a much more complex and dynamic environment. It has worked well for them I cannot see how a relatively simple display wouldn't work out ok in a civilian vehicle.

[ken fager @ Dec 19th 2005 1:02AM]

Two adults. Thats 200 points! Run'em down Cooter!

[james @ Dec 19th 2005 1:02AM]

Question for #9.
What about that big hunk of tire from that 18 wheeler coming up at 80mph? It better detect that too! I agree with the body heat thing, but objects without heat pose just as much threat, and can come out of no wheres fast. I mean I guess you can't make the system Full proof.

[jake @ Dec 19th 2005 1:02AM]

@james(#11):

if the tire blew out, it's probably going to be warm anyway... if I'm not mistaken.

[james @ Dec 19th 2005 1:02AM]

From my experience of driving across country, twice, I�ve experienced a lot of road hazards. In the hills of Idaho, where it doesn't get much travel, but none the less people still use it. We were driving thru around 2am, up this curvy road and there was a whole tire in the middle of the road, we had to slam on our breaks. It was from a previous blow out, but since the road isn't travel often, had time to cool off and lay wait in the middle of the road.

But also think about trees falling down in a storm. Limited visibility, and what, this big black chunk comes crashing down in your night vision, not visible because it�s not warm? Shouldn't it warn me of that as well?

All I�m saying is it's a nice step in the right direction, but it's not the end all to preventing night accidents and such.

[1337freek @ Dec 19th 2005 1:02AM]

cant wait for my dad to get it - right now he has the 745 and when the lease is up he plans on getting 750 or something

[cg @ Dec 19th 2005 1:02AM]

Disclaimer: I work for the company that builds the IR Camera, however I'm not on official representative, I'm just a cog.

Comment: Some of you have commented on not being able to see obstacles that aren't producing heat. While it is true that these objects(trees, bits of tire, etc.) don't generate a lot of heat, they are usually a different temperature than their surroundings, the cameras are extremely sensitive to the difference in temperatures between objects so while a tree might not show up as a glaring white blob it would be distinguishable from the background. Even when objects are the same temperature they are still distinguishable, simialar to a person wearing yellow clothes would still be visible against a wall painted yellow, just not AS visible.

As for the system being a distraction from driving, it is not meant to be used continuously. It is meant to be used to augment visual information the driver is already gathering. Unlike looking down at the radio to change stations, when the driver looks down he is seeing real time information from the scene in front of the car. While there is a short discontinuity between when the driver glances down and when the driver starts processing the image on the screen, it is short enough to be hardly noticable. And unlike a cell phone you aren't trying to concentrate on two different tasks at once, its all driving the car.

While I've never gotten the chance to drive the test bed car that we have here, I've heard from those that have that it is a very natural feeling set up. In situations where head lights are doing the job they said they glanced down very rarely, but as the conditions got worse they would depend more and more on the display but would never stop looking at the road directly.

FYI: One of the other advantages to the system is that it can see through fog quite effectively.

[Samuel Lago @ Dec 19th 2005 1:02AM]

I remember seeing this technology reported somewhere else, its nice to see its out now and not some time ahead, even if its in an unattainable BMW.

It's also a wonder how theykept it under wraps, which just goes to show that cars can still surprise if they have to.

[Doug @ Dec 19th 2005 1:02AM]

Very cool technology, can't wait to get this in my next new car.

[Yoichi @ Dec 19th 2005 1:02AM]

I think you should see how TOYOTA doing about it.

http://www.toyota.co.jp/en/tech/its/program/function/nightviewer.html

http://www.toyota.co.jp/en/safety_presen/tech/40.html

Way more ahead, aren't they ?

[cg @ Dec 19th 2005 1:02AM]

Actually BMW is much farther ahead. The technology that Toyota is using is NIR infrared which means they are using light that is just out of the human visual range, as opposed to the BMW system which uses thermal infrared. Most objects radiate some kind of thermal heat but not NIR. So the Toyata system is what is called an active system in that it has to illuminate the road in front of the car with speacial NIR headlights. This is fine if you're the only one on the road with NIR headlights, BUT when this technology becomes widespread then your NIR system will be blinded by any oncoming car with NIR headlights.

With a passive thermal system you don't have to illuminate anything, everything is generating its own thermal signature.

The technology that BMW has invested in is the next generation after the Toyota technology. Plus BMW is making the push to drive costs on these systems down so that they will be available across a much broader range of cars. Right now the Toyota technology is prohibitively expensive.

To my knowledge Toyota does not offer their system on production models. BMW however is offering it up as a standard option on there 7 series in Q4 of 2005.

And thats how BMW doing about it.

[Yoichi @ Dec 19th 2005 1:02AM]

I'm afraid the "blindness" caused by the lights of oncoming traffic could be the more serious problem for BMW than for Toyota, I'm sure both of them overcame this issue by using some kind of polarizing filters to cut off direct light from light sources, head lamps or street lights.

Toyota has been offering their system on their luxury sedans and SUVs since December 1993.

Anyway, I think the "head-up" type display of Toyota is much more practical and safe, especially under those driving conditions that you really need those.

[Yoichi @ Dec 19th 2005 1:02AM]

I'm afraid the "blindness" caused by the lights of oncoming traffic could be the more serious problem for BMW than for Toyota, I'm sure both of them overcame this issue by using some kind of polarizing filters to cut off direct light from light sources, head lamps or street lights.

Toyota has been offering their system on their luxury sedans and SUVs since December 1993.

Anyway, I think the "head-up" type display of Toyota is much more practical and safe, especially under those driving conditions that you really need those.

[Yoichi @ Dec 19th 2005 1:02AM]

Sorry, I've made an mistake;

It was December 2003, Toyota started offering their system as a factory install option.

[cg @ Dec 19th 2005 1:02AM]

Actually, no. Oncoming headlights are not a problem for the BMW system. BMW uses a thermal system which doesn't need active illumination. It isn't sensitive to visible or NIR light and so needs no filtering.

[Yoichi @ Dec 19th 2005 1:02AM]

ok, how about this one?

it's honda, from dec., 2004.

http://world.honda.com/hdtv/intelligentnightvision/200408/

http://www.autoblog.com/entry/0128258614746782/

[Infrared Camera @ Dec 19th 2005 1:02AM]

I too work in the thermal infrared imaging field and noticed a lot of comments here based on typical misconseptions of this technology. I have customers bringing up the same issues on a daily basis. The poster above from the manufacturer is correct in his description of the technology. Thermal imaging systems show infrared energy or heat differences. This does not mean the objects are hot. All objects in the universe emit infrared energy. Cold objects are radiating infrared energy just as much as hot objects. The main key with infrared technology is not the temperature of an object but the difference in temperature between objects in the scene. If everything is the same temperature you will see nothing. Of course this is impossible in the real world (except perhaps in a cave). Thermal imaging is by far the best night vision technology out there. You can see some interesting images in thermal on this website
http://www.nationalinfrared.com
go to the image gallery and there are some great images of people, cars and the environment around us. You will see that you can clearly see everything from rocks and trees to people and twinkie wrappers. For more information on how infrared technology works check out this blog
http://infraredcamera.blogspot.com/