In a few years, a BMW could handle a large portion of the journey from the toll plaza to the city center on its own. On the highway, the car will stay in its lane and manage lane changes, then, once in urban areas, it will assist the driver in taking the right turn or negotiating a busy roundabout, all while following the GPS route.
That is precisely what the BMW Group is preparing with a new generation of aide à la conduite guided by navigation. After the highway, the brand intends to extend its BMW conduite semi-automatisée en ville to urban driving from 2027, initially in Germany, preserving a SAE Level 2 where the driver remains responsible, a detail that changes everyday use.
BMW semi-automated driving in the city: what’s coming in 2027
Today, BMW already offers the Highway Assistant or Highway Assistant 2 depending on markets. This system allows hands-free driving on the highway up to 130 km/h on homologated segments, from the entry toll to the exit. The brand notes that its customers have already logged between 200 million and 230 million kilometers with this hands-free driving, a volume that serves as the basis for the next step.
This milestone marks the arrival, in 2027, of partially automated urban assistance, still at Level 2. The future function, often described as the Highway & City Assistant or City Assistant, is designed to handle typical urban scenarios: direction changes at intersections, lane changes in the city, management of priorities and roundabouts, aligning with the route proposed by BMW Maps. Deployment will begin in Germany, on specific stretches and cities, before extending to other countries. For France, BMW mentions a rollout around 2027, with no detailed timetable at this stage.
BMW Maps 3D, Highway & City Assistant: how this driving aid works
At the core of this evolution is the new BMW Maps with driving assistance information. Starting in October 2026, on models equipped with the BMW Operating System X, the brand foresees a single 3D view that displays both the route, the detected lanes, other vehicles, and the status of active assists. The idea is straightforward: allow the driver to “see” what the car understands, whether on the highway or in the city, to reinforce confidence in the system. And for a driver trapped in dense traffic, this visual transparency changes how the assistance is perceived.
The first BMWs designed for this semi-automated city driving will be the new BMW iX3 and BMW iX4, as well as the BMW X5, BMW 3 Series (including the new i3) and BMW 7 Series. On these models, the necessary ADAS hardware will be standard, and some urban functions may be activated later via over-the-air software updates. All of this sits within the regulatory framework UN Regulation No. 171 – DCAS Series 2, which allows beginning in 2027 for certain maneuvers initiated by the system in the city while staying at Level 2. Concretely, the driver must keep eyes on the road and be ready to resume control, while components such as BMW Symbiotic Drive and the BMW Panoramic iDrive interface will help make this human-machine collaboration more natural, without promising a fully autonomous car in the city.
