Car UK May 2019

30 CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK | MAY 2019

Does it
work?

Tech

Groundhog Day

for BMW drivers

In a tight spot? Your new BMW can turn back time by retracing

your precise route with Reversing Assistant. By James Tay lo r

SELECT REVERSE

No need to program the system in

advance as it constantly records the

last 50 metres you’ve travelled to a

hard drive, ready to go.

REWIND IT BACK

Let go of the wheel, work the pedals

yourself and travel backwards in time.

You’re required to take over the wheel

again for the last few metres.

GOOD POINT

Press the Reversing Assistant on the

touchscreen. It appears there by the

side of the camera views when you

select reverse.

H

ere’s the scenario: your garage is at the

end of a narrow, winding path without

space to turn around, meaning you

have to reverse the whole way down

it every day. Or maybe you’re on a slender, twisty

country lane and meet an impatient vehicle com-

ing the other way, forcing you to back up. Normally

this would be a stressful exercise in wheelmanship

and spatial awareness, but BMW has a hack

named Reversing Assistant.

We tested the system in an 8-series but it’s

also available on the new 3-series, X5 and X7,

provided buyers stump up for the optional Parking

Assistant Plus pack. Pricing varies: for the 8-series

it’s included in the £2800 Technology Pack, while

it’s part of the £1995 pack of the same name for the

X5 and is available solo at £500 for the 3-series.

Select reverse, prod the Reversing Assistant

icon on the touchscreen, let go of the wheel and

it’ll steer itself to retrace the last 50 metres of the

exact path you’ve just taken. You still operate the

pedals yourself (BMW couldn’t allow the system

to be fully autonomous for insurance rather than

technical reasons) and, as you reach the trajectory’s

final few metres, a warning alerts you to take over

complete control once more.

It’s quite a spooky experience from the cockpit,

watching the wheel spin itself like the helm of a

ghost ship while the car unerringly rewinds in

LET’S TRY THAT AGAIN

HOW IT WORKS

1

3

2

Yes. It might appear to be little more than a

gimmick, but it can be useful in certain situations,

and its accuracy is uncanny. It’s just a pity that it

can’t cope with three-point turns; the system only

functions in one direction, and swapping between

forward and reverse gears cancels the operation.

Does it work?

time, but having control of the throttle and brakes

gives you confidence. If you take over the steering,

or drive too fast (the system only operates below

22mph), the manoeuvre is cancelled. You don’t

need to do anything in advance as the system is

always on at low speeds, constantly recording

the last 50 metres of travel to a hard drive. It’s

not linked to the sat-nav system; the vectors and

driving inputs are recorded separately.

BMW claims you could leave the car parked

up, start the engine ‘months later’, assuming the

battery hasn’t gone flat, and the system would still

recall the last 50 metres as soon as reverse gear was

selected. If a new obstacle has turned up in the

car’s path (for example, one of your children leaves

a bike behind it) the parking camera and sensors

should detect it, in which case they’ll flash up a

warning before it’s too late to avoid a collision.

We wondered, naturally, if you could do reverse

donuts, but were disappointed to be told that the

wheel-speed sensors ensure that isn’t possible.