[Sirksael]

So yesterday at dusk I was driving on a rural road and I drove up to 2 cyclists driving side by side. They were just passing a few speed limit signs.

All of a sudden, my x5 flashed them 4 times, as if I was flashing them with my high beams. The light was quite bright and also reflected off the traffic signs, making it even more apparent for them.

They actually moved off the road to let me pass. Quite an embarrassing experience for me, they probably thought I had flashed them on purpose to move aside.

I imagine this was the night vision system.
Is there any way to make this system less sensitive or less apparent? I looked in the settings but could not find anything.

[sumsuv]

Originally Posted by Sirksael

So yesterday at dusk I was driving on a rural road and I drove up to 2 cyclists driving side by side. They were just passing a few speed limit signs.

All of a sudden, my x5 flashed them 4 times, as if I was flashing them with my high beams. The light was quite bright and also reflected off the traffic signs, making it even more apparent for them.

They actually moved off the road to let me pass. Quite an embarrassing experience for me, they probably thought I had flashed them on purpose to move aside.

I imagine this was the night vision system.
Is there any way to make this system less sensitive or less apparent? I looked in the settings but could not find anything.

Was the night vision on?
There are other systems which detect pedestrians and animals, could it be that?

[Sirksael]

Originally Posted by sumsuv

Was the night vision on?
There are other systems which detect pedestrians and animals, could it be that?

I'm not sure, I think the night vision is always "on", even when not displayed on screen. It is mentioned in the manual that this system uses the lights to shine on detected pedestrians and animals, so that is why I assumed it was the night vision doing this.
I wonder if anyone else has had similar experiences, particularly people who don't have this option? That might clarify.

[sjak92]

Don't actually think that's embarrassing. Alerted you to their presence and them to yours. Not as if you went past them with your hand firmly pressed on the horn so don't see why they'd be offended either

[Sirksael]

Hmm yes well I don't want to turn this into another type of discussion, it seems BMW drivers are generally perceived as more arrogant/agressive and flashing people with your high beams to move over is generally considered rude I guess...

Perhaps you are right and I should not worry about it that much.

[Paladin1]

The side-lighting is a feature of European NV, but not in US systems. As noted, probably a safety feature, which is no doubt why it was deleted in the US.

[X5 45e]

Just out of curiosity why do you have night vision in the most illuminated country in the world?

You confirmed the typical prejudices of BMW drivers: Sneaking behind them in stealth mode in electric drive without pedestrian warning because over 30 km/h and then flashing them out of your way. 😜

Don't worry about is sometimes bikers deserve it too. Driving with in a group like they own the road.

I have read on this forum what you have noticed that the adaptive lights shine on pedestrians, animals, bikers along the road. The road signs were probably a coincidence.

I don't have night vision so I can't comment on that. My adaptive lights do light the road signs very well. The part of the high beam that shines on the side of the road is the last one te be switched off in adaptive mode. But is is not searching for the road signs or flashing like you described . I also have lasers.

[JonnyCrash]

BMW owners are often perceived as well educated, affluent egotistical pricks... so might as well enjoy it?!? I wish I had the night vision, because I am in a very dark place at night, but do think it’s weird that the lights would flash like that. Now I’m curious as to whether it is a feature... so I did some research:

From consumer Reports:
“We also had the opportunity to drive a development vehicle equipped with BMWs Dynamic Light Spot. This system went one step further in not only detecting living obstacles, but by making them still more visible by shining a spotlightlike light on them to make the driver even more aware of their presence. Those of us who had a chance to drive this car commented that at times, the beam illuminated pedestrians we hadn’t even seen yet. The spotlight is generated from lights in the fog lamp housing, so it stays low and close to the road. It was quite effective.“

It sounds to me like this may have been what happened: the car was illuminating the cyclists to show them to you clearly. Perhaps the flashing was caused by them moving relative to you and the car recalculating their position so it could illuminate them?

Technology is cool. And frustrating.

(Oh, and I am a typical BMW driver according to how we are perceived )

[thereef510]

We didn't get the night vision package on ours but we have the laser lights. I was driving home late at night in my friends subdivision when the car all of a sudden flashed the high beams and I saw two people on/near the road getting stuff out of their cars. It seemed to do that to all but highlight their presence and I was happy for it.

I don't know if it was just trying to turn on the auto high beams and went to regular lights when it saw the people or if it was deliberately letting me know there were people on the street. Is that a feature of the laser light package (I assume no?)?

[Sirksael]

Originally Posted by X5 45e

Just out of curiosity why do you have night vision in the most illuminated country in the world?

I have a special condition which causes me to have an extreme low tolerance for empty checkboxes in the car configurator

No, kidding, we have a second house in Sweden where we spend 6-8 weeks per year. I hit a deer once, and had a very near miss several times, so I hope the night vision will help with that.

Oh, and I agree about the cyclists, but those are generally men in spandex

Originally Posted by JonnyCrash

It sounds to me like this may have been what happened: the car was illuminating the cyclists to show them to you clearly. Perhaps the flashing was caused by them moving relative to you and the car recalculating their position so it could illuminate them?

Technology is cool. And frustrating.

(Oh, and I am a typical BMW driver according to how we are perceived )

That could very well be what happened, or perhaps because of dusk the system was just on its activation point? It must trigger at a certain ambient light level as it doesn’t do anything like that during the day.
I am sure it flashed them four times.

Originally Posted by thereef510

We didn't get the night vision package on ours but we have the laser lights. I was driving home late at night in my friends subdivision when the car all of a sudden flashed the high beams and I saw two people on/near the road getting stuff out of their cars. It seemed to do that to all but highlight their presence and I was happy for it.

I don't know if it was just trying to turn on the auto high beams and went to regular lights when it saw the people or if it was deliberately letting me know there were people on the street. Is that a feature of the laser light package (I assume no?)?

Interesting, it does sound similar. I have no idea to be honest, I’ll see if it happens again in the future.

[X5 45e]

What you saw is dynamic light spot. It is designed to alert you but also the pedestrian or cyclist.


"BMW Night Vision System with Dynamic Light Spot
A revolution leading to even more safety at night: BMW Night Vision with Dynamic light spot detects pedestrians in the dark even from a long distance – and selectively illuminates them."

But according to the rest of the text you should also have had a warning ⚠️ in tour HUD and a signal if they were potentially in danger

I don't know what thereef510 observed. But I think it is as he describes and not DLS

[Paladin1]

Originally Posted by X5 45e

What you saw is dynamic light spot. It is designed to alert you but also the pedestrian or cyclist.


"BMW Night Vision System with Dynamic Light Spot
A revolution leading to even more safety at night: BMW Night Vision with Dynamic light spot detects pedestrians in the dark even from a long distance – and selectively illuminates them."

But according to the rest of the text you should also have had a warning ⚠️ in tour HUD and a signal if they were potentially in danger

I don't know what thereef510 observed. But I think it is as he describes and not DLS

We live adjacent to a game preserve (in the US), and deer, turkeys, foxes, coyotes and other assorted night life are a fact of life, from dusk to early morning. Once driving back home, a deer jumped across the road literally about six feet in front of the car at dusk while I had NV active (about 40 mph). No time to really register it, I got a red "leaping deer icon" in the HUD and the dash screen and a screaming alert, the car slammed on the brakes and came to a full stop, and the seat belts jerked us back in the seats. Happened in an instant, and I assumed we had hit it, but didn't feel an impact. I looked over at the side of the road to see a white tail vanishing in the gloom, and thanked my lucky stars. Neither the worse for wear, and not a scratch on deer or car. But I imagine there was a cleanup on Aisle 7 behind the deer, and very nearly on my nice leather seats. I don't know if this was a function of NV, or the Collision Avoidance System, or a combination, but I definitely got my money's worth out of one or both. But it would have been nice for the headlights to illuminate it on the side of the road ahead of time, although I'm not sure it would have in this instance given the speed it happened.

[Sirksael]

Originally Posted by Paladin1

We live adjacent to a game preserve (in the US), and deer, turkeys, foxes, coyotes and other assorted night life are a fact of life, from dusk to early morning. Once driving back home, a deer jumped across the road literally about six feet in front of the car at dusk while I had NV active (about 40 mph). No time to really register it, I got a red "leaping deer icon" in the HUD and the dash screen and a screaming alert, the car slammed on the brakes and came to a full stop, and the seat belts jerked us back in the seats. Happened in an instant, and I assumed we had hit it, but didn't feel an impact. I looked over at the side of the road to see a white tail vanishing in the gloom, and thanked my lucky stars. Neither the worse for wear, and not a scratch on deer or car. But I imagine there was a cleanup on Aisle 7 behind the deer, and very nearly on my nice leather seats. I don't know if this was a function of NV, or the Collision Avoidance System, or a combination, but I definitely got my money's worth out of one or both. But it would have been nice for the headlights to illuminate it on the side of the road ahead of time, although I'm not sure it would have in this instance given the speed it happened.

Very similar to my experience in Sweden except no system on the car so I hit it. It very nearly totaled my car at the time, not to mention the poor deer didn’t survive.