Car-to-car communication
Networked with the future: BMW's innovative car-to-car technology enables your BMW to communicate directly with other vehicles on the road, enabling you to exchange information about current traffic congestion, road conditions, etc.
Are the headlights on? At what speed are the windscreen wipers operating? What do the suspension system and ABS sensors report? Today's BMWs are equipped with a wide range of assistant systems and sensors that constantly monitor and analyse your BMW's driving behaviour and condition.
The objective of vehicle-to-vehicle communication is to make this information available to other vehicles too. Rather than transmitting the data to a central hub, it is sent directly to all relevant vehicles in the vicinity using mobile WLAN technology. Thanks to "multi-hopping", an ad hoc network like this can extend from vehicle to vehicle over great distances. It requires no additional infrastructure or extensive equipment: each vehicle takes on the role of transmitter, receiver or intermediary as needed.
This approach offers benefits to all participants. Each driver has access to a far broader range of local and situation-specific information - as individual and ergonomic as possible, as detailed as necessary. It enables a car to send warnings to the vehicles behind it in the event of a traffic jam, a sudden storm or black ice on the road ahead. This ability to prepare for forthcoming driving conditions represents a dramatic improvement in road safety. By integrating this data into adaptive cruise control systems, it would be possible to improve traffic flow in general.