BMW Working On Adaptive Navigation System

We may not have cars that drive themselves yet, but BMW is working on a navigation system that can learn your driving habits and improve the efficiency of the car. The BMW system is called ILENA, which stands for Intelligent Learning Navigation.

The system records data during your typical daily commute to learn your route, road gradients, curves, and breaking points. The system also uses a camera to get a view of your path. Say your everyday commute involves a quick acceleration from 0-50 to merge onto a freeway, for example. After the system learns your path, the system could proactively reduce the power to your AC system in order to give you more power to merge onto the freeway, BMW claims. At the same the time the car reduces power to the AC, the transmission’s shift points could be raised to provide increased acceleration. 

For hybrid cars, the system could verify there is enough battery life to help reduce emissions and improve fuel economy during the urban portion of a drive. According to BMW, when ILENA is used in combination with BMW’s Efficient Dynamics, it can save 5% to 10% in fuel efficiency.

The system could also have an intelligent feature that can recall driver preferences based on his or her Bluetooth-enabled cell phone. For example, when driver A pairs his phone, the seat could automatically move to his preferred seating, his favorite audio could queue up, etc. Then, when driver B pairs her phone, the appropriate adjustments would be made to suit her preferences.

No privacy issues have been mentioned at this point, but such a navigation system could obviously raise many new questions. Many navigation system s today are able to broadcast your location through the GPS, but recording your daily routes is another story that is sure to raise some suspicions.