Glad to hear it worked so well for you! It’s a feature I’ve never tried (and likely never will).

 

I still can't parse Backup as Reverse...the thread title made me think you'd had some kind of data storage failure but had been saved by having a backup!

Same for Backup Camera - "There's a second camera in case the first one fails??"

 

I have still not tried the reversing assistant but constantly use the parking assistant. It works very well, I like it. The first few times I was a bit nervous because my previous car (BMW 330e MY2020) was far too fast and aggressive so I did not trust that car, but I trust the i4. The speed is just perfect. What I wish for is that the car would roll slowly when turning the steering wheel because it turns even when stopped and that is damaging the front tires. But hey, we live only once... I enjoy watching the steering wheel turning on it's own.

 

I found the parking assistant ok as a gimmick but that was about it... My trouble with it is that it usually takes more than 1 attempt to get into the space. Especially with a perpendicular park. A normal carpark with end on spaces, I can park it myself in one swing 99% of the time. But the car always has to pull out half way though to get some extra turn on it. It feels a bit like a learner driver is parking. Parallel parking is better but still I can manage a better job quicker on my own. I could see the benefit of it for someone who isn't very good at parking, but that is part of a driving test in most countries I believe so shouldn't be an issue...

 

I've still not found a situation where the reversing assistant would come in handy but I have tried the parking assistant several times.
I agree it is impressive, especially for parallel parking, but my god is it nerve-wracking 😅
My main concern is that it will one day curb the wheels but so far it has left a perfect distance between curb and car.

 

The more you use it the less nerve wrecking it becomes... 😅 My 330e was REALLY nerve wrecking. That car drove so fast back and forth that I did not dare to use it. The issue was that according to the manual, you could gently press the brake to reduce the speed, but the brake was so sensitive that every time I tried to reduce speed it aborted the parking. The i4 is miles better. The first few times I was a bit sweaty, but after that, I relaxed. Still never parked with it in a public parking with cars and people all over, and no parallel parking, but it's on my "to do" list...

 

its evolution, its going to happen, half of the US states dont even teach cursive hand writing to kids anymore (thank you keyboard), and calculators are allowed in math tests.
There is some concern that as our technology evolves, we are becoming less smart, in the traditional sense.

In the i4 i dont even have to put it in park, i just turn it off and walk away, but on my ICE I have almost walked away a couple times while its still in (D)rive (engine off)!!

 

I use the backup asst to reverse out of my tight garage without hitting anything on the sides. Just control the speed with your foot on the break pedal & keep hands off the wheel. Works like a charm everytime & no more worries about scraping the sides on anything. I love this feature. Also when pulling into the garage I use the parking asst camera in the carwash view to keep from hitting the front bumper on my lawn mower. Very helpful

 

@CharleyPhogg pretty cool, first time i tried it today, backed out of my 150ft curved driveway perfectly, nice and slow like you said...

 

So, the i4 is an impressive vehicle, but the backup assistant...WTF! I don't understand the point of backup assistant. I assumed you could teach the car to remember certain locations, which you park in frequently, and then have the car recognize the location and spot and backup into tight spaces. I do not understand the futile point of the car remembering spaces I just pulled into or out of in forward drive. The point of this feature is what exactly? I pull into a space in Drive and the car remembers my maneuvers and then, when I leave that spot, I can use backup assistant? That's not very helpful at all. If the car could remember my garage, for instance, so that when I put the car into reverse while in my driveway, the car would then automatically put the car in reverse and park the car in my garage. Now, that's a feature worth having!

SMS

 

Well, for some of us, it's amazingly valuable.

When I pull forward into my garage (with a one-car-width door), it remembers my path and backs out on its own. I never worry about hitting the door with my mirrors.

When I pull forward into a tight spot in a parking garage (very likely next to a post so I'm not near other cars), it remembers and backs me out cleanly.

I use it quite literally every time I drive the car.

 

Can you use the backup assistant to get out of a parallel park, either one you've done manually, or one the parking assistant has done?

 

You can use the parking assist to get out, yes.

 

I can understand the backup assistant has value to some of you but I have yet to find a use-case for it in my daily life.
It's actually the only assistant feature in the i4 that I've never used even once.
Maybe it's from a lack of imagination on my part ¯\(ツ)/¯

 

That was the case with my 330e. I had the parking assist in that car too, tested it when I received the car but never used it during the three and the half years I had that car. When I received the i4 I started using it mainly because I have it, so why not...? OK, so far I only use at home to reverse into my drive way but anyway, I do use it almost daily. I still need to gather some bravery to use it for real parking between cars, but one of these days I'll do it and see how comfortable that feels. I mean, I can drive and I can park in any space, even if the space is extremely tight, but hey, it's a feature I paid for and if it works and makes life easier... why not use it...? Maybe my manhood is hurt a bit, but at my age I don't care about what other people would think, if they think that "the old fart should not be driving if he can't park his car" that's their problem, not mine. I know I can drive and park but I use all the assistant functions because I like them and because they help reducing the work load.

 

I almost always use my Back-Up Assistant to get out of my garage. My wife usually parks too close to my side (like she does in the bed!) and I have to "wedge" myself in the available space between usual garage items and try not to clip the garage door opening with the mirror on the way out. There is literally about 1 inch of clearance when I pull in and back out, so yes, using the back-up assistant is useful for me.

My only issue is it is alarming the entire time and will brake the car hard if it thinks I'm about to hit something, when I can see it won't, so I use the brake to go very slow. But it will back you out completely back into the street in the direction you came in. I think it remembers the last 160 feet.

 

I've also used it to back out of a driveway at a house where we drop off the guide dogs for puppy sitting. It's on the hill going up to the mountains in western downtown Boulder, and the driveway goes up at almost 10º and it's quite narrow, so it's very difficult to see to back out. I could back in, but I'd still have to get "over the hump" before it drops down to their garage. So, I pull in straight and use the backup assistant to get out. It works great! I've used it to back out of a couple of other narrow alleyways, as well. Love the feature!

 

i like it, it works ok most of the time, its gotten itself in a jam a couple of times in my driveway which is 150ft long and S curved and we have 5 vehicles total, so from time to time it gives up and gives me back control, but in reality I can easily take from there w/o problems.
I think it only tries so much before giving up, which makes sense from a safety perspective....
its kinda funny seen it struggle sometimes, just watching the steering wheel spin by itself, and rapidly at times!

 

This must only happen when it can't take the same path back as it took forward?

 

Thanks.

 

but you have to be confident that the car behind you is not any closer to you than whatever was behind that parking spot when you parked. Back up assistant can be a useful feature, but one thing to be aware of is that conditions may have changed between the time you parked and when you leave, as a result there might be an object in the path that you took while parking.

No, the parking assistant uses the same sensors to get you out of a spot as to get you in. Doesn't matter if cars in front or behind have moved since you parked.

Thanks, @First EV! That's right, @nowhere man... In addition, all of the usual automation for parking works (effectively in reverse) to avoid or brake for anything now in the way. It's really a great feature. I have used it in the parking lot at Copper when things are weird and tight from snow during the day.

 

yeah, thanks, I could have written my post better. I was referring only to backup assistant, but I gave an example where you would use parking assistant. I was just commenting that if you use backup assistant (e.g., to back out of a garage), you have to be aware of the proverbial car (or kid's bicycle) in the driveway that wasn't there before.

 

Can confirm: Back-up Assistance will stop when sensors detect an object in the way.

or, in my case, the line on the ground in between the garage slab and concrete driveway.

If I go real slow, it seems to forget what it saw and keep going.

I’ve taken to using it every time I back out of my garage.

 

Yeah, this happens to me, too, somewhere like a third of the time. I think it has something to do with the light and contrast. I just let the warning message appear, touch the message, and temporarily turn it off.