Before the shutdown, I was using BMWâs Driver Assistance Professional w/ ETJA in my G05 on a near daily basis, for a combination of suburban, highway, and city driving as Iâd go into Philly using 76 from out in the KOP suburbs.
ETJA is an absolute godsend when it takes over on the highway, though it certainly has its limitations. The pedestrian collision warning in the past has also assisted me in the city for a runner who fell into the roadway as well as a bicyclist who veered into traffic. Believe it or not, the ACC was actually useful in the city for me since ultimately Iâd just bring the follow distance down to 1 (from 4) and allow it to still just play follow the leader.
Now, those downsides⌠itâll disengage rather quickly and without much advanced warning around anything too sharp (the Conshohocken curve, for example), but then again you need to be paying close attention on all L2 systems anyways. The driver attention camera thatâs watching you does appear to work, since Iâve gotten dinged before for looking away during the ETJA full assist.
Also, itâs hit or miss on stationary objects ahead of you, i.e. a car stopped at a jam that youâre coming upon. Thereâs enough discussion online about the âwhyâ and this is not just limited to BMWs, but Iâve found that in 2/3 cases, the car does recognize the object in the Assisted Driving View screen, though it just would have to brake too hard to slow down in time on its own. Itâs made me nervous once or twice, though manual braking intervention usually gets assisted and is fine. There was also this one occasion where a wet leaf blew onto one of the sensors as I was driving and I immediately got a âReduced Driver Assistance Featuresâ message⌠Iâm somewhat surprised we havenât overcome something that simple yet.
Another potential downside, and maybe itâs just with the M Sport steering wheels since Iâve picked up that this happens to them more often, but itâs rather sensitive and will sometimes disengage even when you have a pretty decent grip on the wheel. Quickly adjusting positions usually does the trick, but itâs definitely quirky sensor behavior, since there are other known successful ways to fool it into thinking your hand is always on the wheel (do not recommend this - not safe and not intended for public roads).
Finally, do remember - this is ultimately fueled by early software. Iâve seen it get more or less accurate as well as finicky over progressive software updates, which may or may not be for everyone. To some degree, youâre still an early adopter/tester on some of the more advanced features, so YMMV.
All in all, for a 1700$ option, it was absolutely worth the cost for me and itâs definitely helped to reduce my driving fatigue significantly. This video, while shot in an EU nation that may perhaps have better road mapping by BMW, was still really helpful for me to see where this could be headed - https://youtu.be/ecE6_A7uJZo.
With all that said, Iâll definitely have to echo @jeisensc - you need to check this out for yourself and see how you personally drive with it since each person and each car can be quite different. The systems change by manufacturer and even within one, by model or by year, so youâll ideally want to make sure youâre researching the exact parameters.