It’s quite amazing how far technology has come, including on cars. Models on sale today have some features we never even thought would exist while they make our lives easier. Right along that alley, BMW announced yesterday a new partnership, this time with Tactile Mobility, an Israeli company. This new collaboration aims at making BMW cars a lot more capable on, thanks to what is called ‘road-sensing’ technology.
Basically, the technology will allow the car to collect data using built-in, non-visual sensors (we’re not told exactly what those are) to compare road conditions with vehicle behavior. The resulting data collected from the suspension, tires, brakes and powertrain is then analyzed and creates a so-called ‘vehicle DNA’.
This will then be paired with ‘Surface DNA’ which is a set of data bits gathered from the road itself, such as road conditions, grip levels and the curvature of the road.
Combining all this data, the car’s behavior can then be optimized for the best settings based on the road you’re on. This way, the ‘tactile sensing technology’ helps get the most out of your driving experience. This may sound familiar, because a similar system is being used by a lot of companies these days, thanks to a camera mounted on the dashboard. That camera reads the road and adjusts the car’s suspension accordingly, to make sure you have the comfiest ride. This is different though.
Naturally, this new tech could come in handy in the future, as far as autonomous driving cars are concerned. It could allow a car to gather data about the road while driving, send it to a server and then all other cars going the same route would have access to it and adjust their settings automatically beforehand. This definitely sounds interesting and we can’t wait to see the advantages it brings to the market.
