BMW Heaven - The Knowledge Base 2.0

Active Cruise Control with Stop & Go.
Active Cruise Control with its Stop & Go function offers the driver even greater support and assistance. This innovative system now available as an option on automatic transmission models of the BMW 6 Series also comprises automatic distance control from the vehicle ahead, enabling the driver to smoothly cruise along in style even in congested traffic and at low speeds, offering a significant improvement in motoring comfort under such conditions often regarded as stressful and irritating.
Using Active Cruise Control, the driver has the choice of four distance settings – and as soon as the distance to the vehicle ahead drops below the setting chosen by the driver, ACC adjusts the speed of the car by intervening in drivetrain management and building up brake pressure in order to comply with current traffic requirements. Then, as soon as the road ahead is free again, the car’s speed is increased to the speed set by the driver in advance, enabling the driver to enjoy stress-free motoring in the new BMW 6 Series in particular style and comfort.
Active Cruise Control intelligently relieves the driver of the usual stress, allows him to concentrate more thoroughly on the driving experience, and ensures greater supremacy at the wheel. It can even reduce the speed of the car to a standstill whenever necessary on account of traffic conditions, with the car coming to a halt and being held in position until conditions are appropriate for continuing.
The maximum stopping power generated by Active Cruise Control with Stop & Go is 4 metres/sec². So should the driver be required to intervene because the motorist ahead is applying the brakes extremely hard, he is urged to do so by both optical and acoustic signals.
Active Cruise Control with Stop & Go uses the latest generation of radar sensors covering a larger field of visibility and stands out in particular by broad coverage of the area directly in front of the car. To provide this superior coverage, ACC with Stop & Go combines a long-range sensor covering distances of up to 150 metres or almost 500 feet with two short-range sensors able to detect vehicles ahead at a distance of up to 20 metres or 66 feet. The radar sensors are integrated inconspicuously in the front end of the car, naturally in full conformity with the car’s design.
In stop-and-go traffic the system again helps the driver by reliably maintaining an appropriate distance from the vehicle ahead, thus relieving the driver of any need to apply the brakes regularly, as is otherwise required in slow and congested traffic.
The driver nevertheless remains in control and retains his responsibility at all times, being required, for example, after a short stop lasting more than three seconds, to briefly press down the accelerator or press the Resume button to set off again, thus giving the car the command to accelerate.
Even with Active Cruise Control currently activated, the driver is able to influence road speed at any time by giving gas or applying the brakes.
And by pressing down the brake pedal while driving he interrupts his use and operation of the system.
With the system currently operating, the driver is able, pressing down the paddle switch serving to maintain the car’s distance for a somewhat longer period, to switch over from Active Cruise Control with Stop & Go to “regular” cruise control with its brake application function and vice versa.
This gives the driver the option to use cruise control also at a speed of more than 180 km/h or 112 mph.



Always keeping clearly on course: Lane Departure Warning.
To support the driver in remaining alert on the road, both the new BMW 6 Series Coupé and the new BMW 6 Series Convertible come with a newly developed assistance system serving to prevent undesired departure from the right lane on the road: Referred to as Lane Departure Warning, this system detects any deviation from the correct line of travel and gives the driver a discreet but noticeable signal at precisely the point most significant to his steering behaviour – on the steering wheel.
The Lane Departure Warning system is made up of a camera installed in the windscreen near the interior mirror, a control unit serving to compare data, and a signal transmitter actuating a discreet but unmistakable vibration signal on the steering wheel. And whenever the driver indicates his intention to change lanes or direction by operating the direction indicator, the Lane Departure Warning system takes this, too, into account, cancelling out the warning signal.
To provide this supporting function, the camera in this system monitors the markings at least on one side of the lane and their distance to the current position of the car. The control unit then evaluates this data and distinguishes, taking the actual course of the car into account, between insignificant and potentially dangerous deviation from the desired course.
Lane Departure Warning looks sufficiently far ahead to allow the driver to make any corrections required without an undue effort or hectic reaction.
So with the camera ensuring both a very high level of resolution and accurate images, the system is able to look ahead some 50 metres or almost 500 feet, and also works at night as long as the headlights are switched on.
A further feature of Lane Departure Warning is that it adjusts to the speed of the car, operating at a lower level of tolerance as road speed increases.
In that case, therefore, the minimum distance to the lane markings on the road leading to activation of the signal whenever not maintained, is automatically increased.
Active Lane Departure Warning is conceived for long-distance driving and may be activated as of a speed of 70 km/h or 50 mph, the vibration signal automatically cutting out once the driver has corrected the car’s direction of travel.