BMW to offer fully electric versions of 5 Series, 7 Series, X1

BMW hopes to do its part to reduce its CO2 emissions, and part of that goal is introducing full-electric versions of its mainstream 5 Series, 7 Series, and X1 vehicles. These automobiles will be available with a full-electric, plug-in hybrid, and gas-only (plus diesel in Europe) with a 48-volt mild-hybrid system. The automaker said in a press release, "In ten years, the goal is to have a total of more than seven million electrified BMW Group vehicles on the roads—around two-thirds of them with a fully-electric drive train." BMW wants to have 25 electrified models by 2023, with half of these fully electric. By 2021, BMW plans to offer five pure EVs, including the BMW i3, Mini Cooper SE, BMW iX3, MBW iNext and the BMW i4. 

In line with the European Union rules of needing 37.5 percent lower emissions by 2030, BMW said, "The objective is to reduce CO2 emissions from vehicles by 40 percent per kilometre driven." Aside from introducing new fully electric cars, BMW is also planning to work with suppliers based on their carbon footprint, tying executive bonuses to emission reductions, and having plug-in hybrids automatically switch to an all-electric mode in cities.

Source: Engadget

BMW introduces new camera surveillance tech

Perhaps to help keep watch of your car when it’s parked in relatively sketchy places or to help you park the car while you’re outside of it, BMW is developing new camera surveillance technology for its vehicles. The German automaker sent out a photo showing off a user making use of the Remote View 3D from a smartphone. But they didn’t really release other information on it. What it has also given us though is a quick peek at the upcoming BMW 5 Series. This tech makes use of multiple cameras expected to come to the new BMW 5 and possibly more of BMW’s automobiles.

And while we don’t know much about it yet, it might be able to work like the Cadillac CT6’s camera, which makes use of different vehicle sensors to turn the car into a dashcam that’ll be able to record what happens when the vehicle is disturbed.

Source: CNET