There’s much hubbub about the new G11 7 Series’ ability to park itself without a driver even on board. This new self-parking feature is controlled via the touchscreen keyfob that comes with the 7er. The idea is to allow you to park the car in an area where it might be too tight to open the doors to get out.
So you line the car up with the your desired parking spot, step out of the car, press the parking button on the keyfob and voila, the G11 7 Series will park itself for you. And when it’s time to get back in, simply use the keyfob to beckon your 7 Series and it will back itself out of the spot and and welcome you back.
However, the G11 7 Series wasn’t the first 7 Series to be remote controlled.
James Bond, the famous international spy from MI6, had a similar car in the film “Tomorrow Never Dies.” In the Pierce Brosnan Bond film, Q, Bond’s quartermaster, gives him a 750iL with the ability to be driven via remote control. In the film, Bond escapes a hail of gunfire by laying in the backseat and driving the 750iL using the remote controller. He’s able to deftly maneuver all sorts of obstacles and baddies with the remote controller, simply because he’s James Bond.
While this might be near impossible to do in the real world, in Bond’s world, anything is possible. Sure, BMW could give the G11 7 Series an ability to be remote controlled, it’s certainly possible. The fact that the 7er can move on its own is testament to the fact that this would be possible. If the car can maneuver itself than it can be remotely driven. But it would be madness and impossible to control and, frankly, unsafe. But the simple act of getting it to park itself with just the press of a touchpad is cool enough for now.
While we may not be able to pilot the G11 7 Series away from baddies like Bond so deftly did in Tomorrow Never Dies, we can still command it to do something remotely. So just think, if you’re a lucky owner of a new BMW 7 Series, you can park your bimmer in your garage every night without having to be at the wheel and you’ll feel like James Bond, even for just a moment.
How many cars can do that?
