Active Cruise control is always something I wanted to have as it's such a useful feature, not only for long trips but for city driving. It allows you to set a maximum speed and it will accelerate to that speed keeping a set distance to the vehicle in front of you. This distance can be controlled with the steering wheel buttons. It will also brake completely to a stop and works in turns and when switching lanes as well. Basically, all you have to do is steer - or stop the car at traffic control devices only if you are the first car.
Unfortunately ACC was never offered on any of the M models until the G series M cars starting in MY2019. This almost caused me to purchase an X5 50i, but I was much more attracted to the potential of the S63 engine having enjoyed 750HP on our two previous F10 M5s.
TJA builds upon ACC and maintains lane keeping assistance by keeping the vehicle in its lane and turning the steering wheel while following the vehicle in front. TJA works very well in traffic and with clearly marked lanes. If there isn't a car to follow or the lanes are not clearly marked, it has a tendency to drift but will immediately alert the driver upon system deactivation.
For us, the main goal was to achieve ACC functionality on an M model vehicle, and TJA is certainly an added bonus. Non M vehicles can be optioned with this from the factory.
The installation involved mounting the front range radar sensor and the associated wiring to connect it to the proper vehicle communication systems. After that the car underwent custom programming and calibration of the driver assistance systems. The end result is marvelous - ACC and TJA is an excellent addition to any M car!
Please find below pictures during the install and a couple videos as well. We will be offering a retrofit kit for those interested.
Big shoutout to Mike Fuentes at Santa Monica BMW for assisting us with the calibration (BMW factory special tools with laser, guide, rail, and mirror are required for 100% perfect calibration). Also big shoutout to Bruno, our master M technician for his impeccable job at installing the sensor and routing the wiring along all of the factory harnesses.
We finished the retrofit off by fitting the car with a factory performance steering wheel and some dry carbon paddles. We also fitted a device which emulates hand presence on the steering wheel. Other than this device, all other parts are 100% factory equipment and programming. On a car equipped with KAFAS (LDP+Collision Warning), performing this retrofit is fairly easy - the hardest part is removal of the center console.
Please feel free to ask any questions and we will definitely post more videos and information soon. We just completed this yesterday and wanted to share our initial videos first.