[Conezz]

Park assist is useless for picking up parking spot blocks. The sensors don’t detect them them and the bird’s eye view is not at all accurate and they often will appear further than they appear.

I almost wrecked my front bumper today. Luckily I stopped to get out and look.

Definitely the most disappointing feature on this car. BMW should come up with a fix. Very misleading.

[Soul_Glo]

Mine is much the same. It has a tendency to be inconsistent so human intervention is required. I have stopped using it because it's embarrassing backing up into a spot and not having enough space to exit (when clearly there should have been if it got it right). Tbh I've always parked without it and don't see a need for it.

[billnchristy]

I have never used it in the 8 years of owning BMWs. My genius showed me when I picked up my X1. She had me have it park next to a loaded 7 series. I was like, "you really want this?" She said "why, are you scared?" I said "It's your 150k car, I'm not taking responsibility"

It worked but it whipped in so fast I decided right then and there I would just park myself.

[TheMaxXHD]

I haven't had hands on with it yet, but I imagine I won't use it much if ever. The ironic part is the usefulness is basically negated by the 360 degree view you get when parking. The 360 view is the useful feature it seems. At that point, one can probably park better than the auto parking.

[MaxW]

The PAP was a must for me because I love the ability to back out of my garage without worrying about clipping the mirrors. I can't imagine trusting it with all of the unknown variables outside of my house though. Is there some kind of disclaimer when you have this package? Will BMW actually cover the cost if the PAP doesn't detect a fixed object, causing body damage?

IMO, the cameras are super cool, but sometimes distort the image, especially in the overhead view. Maybe they have improved that technology in the past couple of years though.

[stanyu15]

My parking spot has a pretty tall parking block but the sensor doesn't pick this up. I also have to manually enable the parking cameras to show up to see how close i am to it. It would also be better if the camera view was closer to the ground instead of from a birds eye view

[zazzau]

Got PAP for the 360 camera. Use it ALL the time — particularly for parking blocks. In my case it is not 100% accurate because objects (like the parking blocks) appear CLOSER than they are. Same concept as the side mirrors.

Unlike OP, I have NEVER had a situation where objects appeared further than they are and I've owned this car for at least 18 months. If you're having inconsistent results it might likely be a software issue and if you're able to reproduce the problem at will get the dealership to check it out. Saying that because I don't have the same experience at all. In fact I get warning alerts when I get way too close to the block sometimes depending on how obnoxiously high the block is. However the 360 itself has never disappointed me.


On another note, I also find the "birds eye" view super helpful for parking by the curb without curbing my wheels. That alone is worth the feature. I wouldn't own a car without the 360 camera ever again.

[JABCAT]

It's amazing people could successfully park vehicles for decades without cameras & sensors & autopark...

[zazzau]

Originally Posted by JABCAT

It's amazing people could successfully park vehicles for decades without cameras & sensors & autopark...

Agreed! For me my biggest grip is that the front end appears bigger than my previous cars like the E90 where I almost always had a sense of the distance at the front end. With my M340i it's almost impossible. G20 330i is better in comparison. But it's nice to have cameras even if just for safety.

[JABCAT]

Originally Posted by zazzau

Agreed! For me my biggest grip is that the front end appears bigger than my previous cars like the E90 where I almost always had a sense of the distance at the front end. With my M340i it's almost impossible. G20 330i is better in comparison. But it's nice to have cameras even if just for safety.

I did add a front camera to my Z06 only because the OEM front splitter is $2,000 & is now discontinued. After the Xpel installer cracked & replaced the original, I decided I wasn't going to take the risk. I also rarely park forward anywhere in an of my vehicles. Wife's '23 Grand Cherokee has front, side, rear, birdseye cameras, & auto park. Don't use any of them when parking. Still use the side mirrors & "gasp" look behind me when backing up.

Go to my sons swim practice & it's a freakin comedy show watching everyone try to park their vehicles. Takes most 3-4 attempts while they're staring intently at their infotainment screens while holding up the line of cars trying to get by. Every day.

[Rawhide]

The camera views are great and I use them all the time, highly recommend for that feature. The parking assist is only the occasional "hey check this out" for a neat gimmick, I never use it on the regular.

[Benjamin_Nicholas]

BMWs autonomous tech is nowhere near as developed as it should be.

[TheMaxXHD]

Originally Posted by Benjamin_Nicholas

BMWs autonomous tech is nowhere near as developed as it should be.

Everyone‘s autonomous tech is nowhere near where it should be. For example, Tesla has better on the road autonomous abilities, but tests have repeatedly shown their auto parking is one of the worst in the industry. It is early days for all these new autonomous systems still.