You wouldn’t believe the heated debate the slight rumor about a self-drifting BMW caused in our news room. Almost everyone, from the mail guy to the editor-in-chief had an opinion about it, varying from ‘sacrilege’ to ‘amazing’.
Other publications quickly jumped the gun too, claiming that this marks the end of the ‘ultimate driving machine’ and that BMW should open the gates to their factories, give the cars they built until now for free and then somehow just self-implode and disappear from the face of the Earth forever.
Calm down people, it’s not what you think! Earlier today I actually wrote about the whole thing that was designed as a safety feature and not a thing to play in roundabouts with. It’s called ActiveAssist and it’s meant to save your life when an unexpected obstacle shows up in front of you and you cannot possibly brake in time.
Furthermore, at the moment, it was just showcased, to prove that it’s possible, nobody said that it will become standard on every BMW out there and that you’ll be stripped away from the pleasure of drifting the car yourself, the old fashion way. If it will ever make it on production cars, rest assured that it will be as an optional feature, to help save lives, not to win drifting competitions.
The fact that everyone jumped to conclusions shows only the way BMW handled business recently, not taking its time to introduce questionable, niche models, as it was supposed to.
People saw the prospect of FWD models and EVs from BMW too late and when they actually arrived they were not ready to understand what they meant: evolution! In our day and age, if you don’t keep up with the times, you risk being left out.
Sure, some die-hard fans would prefer a car from BMW with nothing but a steering wheel, a seat, engine and transmission but those are the minority that won’t allow the Germans to keep up with the competition. Get used to it people, this is the way IT HAS TO BE, not what the crazy Management team decides to do, just to annoy you!
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