Call it the Ultimate Self-Driving Machine. BMW, long the darling of driving enthusiasts, is preparing for a future in which driving duties will be handed off to the vehicle. The company plans to offer its first such car in 2021, when it releases the all-electric iNext, giving drivers the option to give up control of all steering, accelerating, and braking functions in certain driving situations.
The German brand showcased its in-house-developed automated-driving technology, dubbed Personal CoPilot, in a handful of 2017 BMW 530i prototype vehicles at the 2017 CES technology show. ?Prototype,? though, is a loose term; short of some tacky exterior graphics, a handful of exposed electronics confined within the cargo hold, and a blue sticker covering the steering-wheel-mounted lane-keeping-assist button (BMW?s way of denoting that the button now activates Personal CoPilot), the 5-series cars brought to CES were all factory-fresh vehicles sporting the build quality and interior materials expected of a vehicle with a base price of $52,195. Having previously driven the 335-hp six-cylinder 540i, CES marked our first time getting behind the wheel of the base 248-hp four-cylinder 530i. With Personal CoPilot disengaged, we drove through the city streets of Las Vegas toward Interstate 15. While our drive was too short to draw any real opinions about the turbocharged four-pot, we did find it to be generally lag-free and punchy enough to get us through the slog of traffic around L...