Real World BMW Parking Assistant Plus Testing | TestDrive Garage

We test BMW's Parking Assistant Plus to see if it works in the real world.
The all-new 2019 BMW X5 xDrive50i has a feature called Parking Assistant Plus, which offers high-definition Surround View cameras and BMW's Park Distance Control sensors around the vehicle to automatically park a vehicle for you, both parallel and perpendicularly. We test the hands-free parking mode to see if it works in the real world.
Our testing took place over the course of around 10 minutes in a real parking lot occupied with real cars. We wanted to see if this self parking system could handle things like ice, or worn-out parking space lines, or cars parked too far away from each other. We tried to keep the editing to a minimum, but as we started testing this system with the intention of using a short clip for an episode of TestDrive Spotlight we did edit out some portions where we restarted the introduction of the segment.
We have two angles for our parking test and switch between them based on the ideal viewing angle for the audience.
BMW claims you only need to activate the system by pressing the Parking Assistant button once and driving until the vehicle detects a spot. Once the spot has been located the driver is supposed to press the P button on the iDrive screen and confirm through the iDrive controller that BMW is not responsible for any damage caused due to this system. The Parking Assistant Plus is then supposed to park the vehicle automatically with the driver's hands off the steering wheel and the brake pedal ready to engage should it be required.
Once the vehicle has been parked automatically the Parking Assistant will place the vehicle in park and disengage. Our testing shows what you might expect if you live in a climate like Quebec and try to use this system in the winter. It seems the Parking Assistant is designed to be used under ideal weather circumstances where parking lines are easily visible and other vehicles are parked correctly in their respective spots.
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[@christiankonig6499]

Sweat was running down your forehead, I have seen it.😁

[@PRNTestDrive]

I legitimately have never been more stressed out while filming TestDrive than I was during this segment. Especially when the X5 almost hit that red car during my first attempt I really started to regret testing the system.

[@mariannalacrosse2886]

I. Was sweating with you too. Nice job when it worked . Glad it worked . Thanks for testing it . It’s nice technology to have as assistance and backup ..

[@PRNTestDrive]

We try to test out these technologies when we can, sometimes they work a lot better.

[@vladsgi5600]

The system works, if you now how to use it properly and what are the situations when can detect a space. If you read the manual you will see why it did't work how you wanted, but how it was designed by the engineers.The parallel parking is perfect, and this perpendicular one is good in 70-80% of the situations. The reason is parallel parking is v2.0 while perpendicular is the 1.0 gen..

[@NeutralGenericUser]

This is something you get used to, believe me. To the people who think the BMW videos are staged somehow, they're not. Once you learn the peculiarities, it works flawlessly. For example, the last 2 failed attempts were because you let go of the brakes slightly before accepting the warning. It does not detect large amounts of open spaces next to each other, because that's not the point of the system. If there are 5 open spots, you don't need a parking assistant.

[@PRNTestDrive]

That’s a very fair point. We wanted to do some testing on these systems as we’ve had requests to do so. I feel if you need the parking assistant in the first place you probably aren’t going to know all the correct processes you need to do in order to make it work flawlessly every time.

[@NeutralGenericUser]

@@PRNTestDriveThat's true. I guess this is one of those things you should practice and be familiar with before trying it when you really need it. As you said, though, most people will attempt to use it for the first time when they really need it, and it probably will not work for them, so they'll never use it again.

[@eazy1437]

NeutralGenericUser absolutely my friend, the system is not as bad as pictured in the video

[@Verysimpleinvesting]

That’s a great addition to the video I just bought 2015 X5 and I’m planning to play with parking assistance 😊

[@rkalla]

This is actually fantastic because this is how ALL of us will experience it and some BMW engineer showing it work in a perfect staged scenario.

[@PRNTestDrive]

That’s why we finally wanted to film our experiences with it. We’ve had a few requests over the last year and a number of vehicles offer this tech, so we wanted to finally get around to testing it.

[@IncogNito-vz9tm]

Love how this shows what really happens in the real world to the majority of us 😂

[@Origen17]

This was funny - thanks!

[@PRNTestDrive]

Glad you liked it! We’ve always wanted to film something on these parking systems.

[@ZohaibMasood1]

Just got mine 2 days ago. This is the first thing I tried. Love it.

[@PRNTestDrive]

Great to hear! Congrats on the purchase!

[@ZohaibMasood1]

PRN_TestDrive thank you 😊

[@ScottParisi]

Congratulations on getting it to work. Feel like my 2019 X3 M40I never finds a spot.

[@dejanstikic7536]

Good job 👍

[@PRNTestDrive]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@merko861]

What is the bmw option that gives you a valid driving licence ?

[@markham1234]

Have the parking assistant on the X3. Be careful when parking in the snow and also when there is diagonal parking in the parking lot. While it won't hit a car, the parking won't be centered. So you will have to fix it. I think it is a good feature to demonstrate to your family and friends but not practical in busy parking lots - which are basically all lots!

[@PRNTestDrive]

Agreed, it’s still a gimmicky feature. What you said about snow and diagonal parking spots are reasons why I’m very skeptical about fully autonomous vehicles. Roads have to be in perfect condition for them to work properly.

[@eazy1437]

Thats really weird, Ive never experienced a case like yours in my one year with 118i, maybe the camera/sensors are not working properly in your car

[@Dactylonian]

Bravo for posting the unedited version of this video 😅

[@PRNTestDrive]

I do what I can :)

[@jeffcristofono3468]

I've only found the system to work when there's a single spot open between two cars. It doesn't seem to engage when there's multiple spots open. It's neat but more more novelty than practical. Can count on one hand how many times I've used it in my G20.

[@PRNTestDrive]

Definitely a novelty, I agree.

[@vonpaparas]

I think it might be useful for the wife who is used to driving a much cheaper and smaller car and is nervous about this expensive big one...

[@1sti]

if this wasn't the realest world testing I've ever seen...

[@sunshadow9704]

It was designated to work in county where parking has clear marks. Canada certainly fails on that department. Till now I didn’t know canada is third word country. In Germany, this Feature working 100 out of 100.

[@SAKURA-us9ec]

This is funny how she stole your spot 😄

[@PRNTestDrive]

I know right!

[@prabhasprasad1492]

😂😂😂😂 truth behind auto assist parking,the Branding tactic broked

[@PRNTestDrive]

Pretty much!

[@ivanlowjones]

I can definitely see the benefit of using this technology to parallel park on a city street where some spaces are tighter than others, but perpendicular parking in a shopping center parking lot with evenly spaced stalls laid out in a uniformed pattern? If you can't gauge the distance and spacing on your own on the first try, you should surrender your license to the authorities immediately and be forever forced to rely on ridesharing and public transportation as your primary means of conveyance.

[@PRNTestDrive]

Agreed! I was hoping to test out the parallel feature but it's not an ideal system to test with our poorly kept roads in the winter.

[@GuuiYae]

@@PRNTestDrive :D it wont work in Montreal street parking

[@theamazoner4075]

I believe you need to drive less then 8km/h for it to sense

[@PRNTestDrive]

That's also very possible.

[@MauiXoXo]

😂😂🤣🤣 You are one funny guy! I enjoyed this video! 🎬🎬

[@PRNTestDrive]

I'm glad yo liked it, thanks! We think it's important to show these systems in the real world.

[@nicolasb5403]

Well I confirm, my bmw 330e also doesn't detect the spits that well...

[@PRNTestDrive]

Should be using the same hardware/tech so that makes sense.

[@huzaylhashmi7199]

When the car does not detect it that means you have to get a bit more closer to the parking spot

[@PRNTestDrive]

It's very possible, ultimately the system works under very specific circumstances.

[@Austinomon]

Nice video, I have a few questions, anyone who knows could answer. 1. Is this feature an option for bmws or is it standard as long as you have that parking sensor button thing? 2. Does the car need 360 view to have this feature 3. (Don’t come at me for this just curious about it) will the new Supra have this feature? If not would it even be possible to add it lol

[@PRNTestDrive]

The Parking Assistant is a specific package you need to add on, even on the X5 we tested this with. There’s an option for just the Park Distance Control sensors and 360° Surround View cameras, and an enhanced option which adds the self-parking feature. It’s certainly possible that the Supra or Z4 could have this as an option, it depends on what Toyota’s agreement with BMW is when it comes to tech like this.

[@aidenp5768]

I think the car is going great by not letting you choose spots because there’s ice on the floor and I think the car needs white lines to do it?

[@PRNTestDrive]

It's possible, but we also had false positives show up during testing when we'd pull into our driveway as the auto parking system came on due to our geo-fence. I'd be curious to know if the lines are important or not, all the information on BMW's press website only talk about the sensors pinging for open space. Alternatively since the parking lot was covered in ice most people parked further apart from each other, which might be a contributing factor, this system might get confused if there's more space between vehicles than normal. We did have one perpendicular spot show up on the iDrive screen as a parallel auto-park spot due to the space between the cars.

[@jacquelinemarltonnj8941]

lines are not needed. it detects both cars along the side and parks perfectly centered to those.

[@prabhasprasad1492]

10 second work become 10 minutes work 😂

[@keysharaedwards4395]

Am I the only one weak that some lady stole his parking space 😂😂

[@PRNTestDrive]

Tell me about it 😂 I definitely had some negative things to say about her but didn't want to get limited ad status on this video for the things I'd say 😆

[@Sean-me4fv]

I can’t get mine to identify the empty parking spaces. In fact, it identified two car parks with cars already in them

[@PRNTestDrive]

That’s part of the reason why we wanted to film this episode, I feel this technology isn’t consistent enough to be relied on fully.

[@Sean-me4fv]

PRN_TestDrive Yeah, it shouldn’t have been included unless it was 100% spot on

[@beydoin]

lol @ woman taking the spot! :)

[@PRNTestDrive]

I know eh! haha.

[@verde629]

5:14 you’re welcome

[@arturopg9600]

stopped watching after 3 minutes and still not seeing how the system works.

[@PRNTestDrive]

That’s because it took longer than that for it to actually work, hence this being a video testing the system and not marketing & demonstrating it.

[@srabony00]

This is not reliable. I have a X6 2022. I tried auto parking in my underground garage and it hit a pillar. Had brutal scratches which BMW dealership denied to cover.

[@Originsindabuko]

You wer using it all wrong, and why do you drive in the middle of the road, so far away from parking spots, geeze, mine works 100% of the time, read up on these things before uploading a video

[@PRNTestDrive]

I’m not in the middle of the road, the camera doesn’t provide an accurate representation of what the driver sees.

[@GeneMyersPoet]

You are driving too quickly

[@chico1014]

What a total waste of money,if people can't park the damn thing they shouldn't be driving in the first place.That's tech just for the sake of being able to brag that your car can park it self.

[@PRNTestDrive]

That's still how it feels to us, that and the semi-autonomous driving mode which we'll talk about on tomorrow's full episode of TestDrive Spotlight on this X5.