Dema

Today one lady cut me too sharp and then applied brakes, so distronic got upset and beeped and showed red when applied brakes too hard. I was wondering why it doesn't activate honk or at least flash high beam? DO machine need be always polite?

dmighty

I'm surprise how many people deem this a necessity. I mean, I have been driving cars without it for years and the one time I did have it in a rental, I disabled it. I would be interested in knowing if people with distronics were previously involved in an accident. Now I can see this feature being a benefit once I hit 60 and my vision or reflexes have deteriorated . Idk maybe it's just me or maybe just US overcome with technology. Either way, I'm sure it saves lives especially with younger drivers who text/talk/etc though I'm part of this population.

dmighty

Haha maybe her distronics forced her into ur lane and then applied her brakes

GregTR

The BMW X5 flashes the high beam if someone jumps in your lane like that and you have the automatic cruise control enabled. As for the beeping and "getting upset" it meant that the car needed to decelerate faster than 0.5 m/s^2 which is essentially half G. Distronic will not decelerate at that rate on its own you have to apply brakes yourself.

GoBlando

Lol, spoken like someone doesn't have to spend time in highway congestion traffic. For me it isn't a safety feature (i don't trust it for that), it is a convenience feature. It removes a lot of the annoyance of stop start traffic and frequently varying speeds. Just this past weekend I was travelling in the NYC Metro area and found the experience less annoying. Also, it will never do a true panic stop. The maximum force it will apply with the brakes is 40%, so it really isn't a true emergency crash avoidance feature.

And no, I have not been involved in an accident (in the past 15 years).

Dema

I agree that the feature works great in slow traffic, however when you reached 60 and up I feel a little bit uncomfortable with it. It also keeps a distance a little bit closer than a level of my comfort. I believe it is configurable, but I didn't learn it yet.

GregTR

You need to twist the cruise control stalk to change the following distance. I prefer it on the shortest distance, it's just about perfect for my driving style. I trust the system very much at any speed, the braking seems very optimal and fine tuned. It is definitely conservative and it will rather brake than coast after a slower car pops up suddenly in your lane to minimize time spent too close to the vehicle in front of you.

The system has its limitations, it cannot anticipate human driving patterns, like it can't see that the car in front of you is about to change lanes so you could maintain speed because by the time you get to it it would be gone and neither can see that the car that just got in front of you has no immediate hazard or car in front of it so you can afford to be a bit closer to it and coast off rather than brake. I understand the limitations and the fact that the engineers chose to err on the safe side as anyone developing such a system would.

But overall it is incredible technology and I can't appreciate it enough.

drsaab

Really? I think it is the best feature ever in the car. Driving 55 miles each way to work and 90% highway it makes my commute a joke vs a strain. Even with rush hour, now I just feel its a few extra minutes vs having to fully concentrate on the gas and brake for stop and go traffic.