BMW is going to display a highly automated i3 at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January.
This research vehicle is said to offer the possibility of 'entirely collision-free driving', by using four laser scanners that provide 360-degree vision around the car. The i3 is claimed to avoid pillars or walls in areas with poor visibility, like multi-storey car parks. If the car senses a collision is about to happen, it activates the brakes in time to avoid it - although if the driver steers away from the obstacle, it releases the brakes again.
BMW also says the i3 can park itself in a fully-automated manner in car parks, so much so that a driver isn't even required. And if you're wondering how it can do this in a multi-storey, where GPS signals can be a bit hit-and-miss, it can connect its sensor systems to a digital site plan of the car park so it knows precisely where it is in the tight confines of the building at any given time.
Anything else?
Although the i3 is just a test bed car for now, as already mentioned this technology can be used as either a driver assist feature or for full automation. BMW claims that, on the latter score, it has been working on the self-driving car since as far back as October 2009, with its BMW Track Trainer escapade at the Nürburgring.