[rlou]

I took delivery of my X5 at the end of April. One of the things I quickly noticed was that the camera on the passenger side mirror was misaligned. This was noticeable whenever using parking assist mode as the overhead image was showing the right side image out of alignment, i.e. when parking in a normal parking spot the image on the screen would look like: | O \ instead of: | O | (hope that makes sense).

I finally brought my X5 into service on 5/29 to have this 1 issue addressed. Service had my car for the day and said the issue was fixed. The invoice said:

"1576 cameras out of initialization manually folded in mirrors and utilized auto fold button to fold out. performed slow speed initialization drive. cameras showing proper picture."

Before leaving the dealership I checked the parking image and saw that the issue was not fixed. I went back inside to let my SA know, and he called the shop foreman out to take a look. As soon as he saw the image he said "yeah that's not fixed". I ended up driving away that day due to issues arranging a loaner car.

On 6/3 the dealership picked up my X5 and dropped off a loaner for me (thumbs up to them for this great point of customer service). On 6/6 I heard back from my SA that after consulting with BMW NA they were able to determine that a module needs to be replaced, which needs to be ordered from Germany and will take ~3 weeks). I picked up my X5 on 6/10 with the understanding I would have to bring it back once the part arrives. The invoice for this visit said:

"1770 passenger mirror camera not straight while in a parking spot showed wrong angle on passenger side (angled excessively outward). hooked vehicle too battery charger and ran short test. found no faults for this. began re-calibration process of KAFAS camera and drove vehicle 10 miles to reset. found issue is still present. programmed and encoded vehicle including KAFAS system and recalibrated once more. drove again and found issue is still present. spoke with shop foreman who recommended opening a TSARA case (case number: 56285) performed as per advance info several times and the passenger side cameras will still do not lineup. programmed TSRVC to force calibration and issue still persists. (did this twice.) driving 8-10 mph parking lot with lines and tried curbs also. per TSARA case ordered replacement TSRVC module. (germany) - client will return when the part is here."

So I left the dealership happy in the fact the issue had been identified with resolution to come in the next few weeks. But, the strange thing I noticed yesterday is that the overhead image now looks 100% correct (at least in the fact that the right parking line is parallel with the left line).

Thinking I'll wait to hear from my SA that the part has arrived, then bring my X5 in but have them take a look at what I'm seeing to determine if the module replacement is really necessary.

Anyways, the experience so far has been weird.

[TurtleBoy]

I would probably tell them to replace it when the part comes in since there is something wrong with it. It may continue to work or go bad again the day after deciding not to replace the part. Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

[yujini]

I had the same issue and the technicians told me that previous F15 X5 had a way to recaliberate the cameras, but for G05 the system automatically aligns itself.
So after taking part of the side mirror cameras, they reinstalled it and the system recaliberated by itself.

Maybe that happened to you.

[TheHitchhiker]

I have the same problem on my driver's side camera. I am planning to take it in soon. Seems to be a common issue.

[Baboum68]

Originally Posted by TheHitchhiker

I have the same problem on my driver's side camera. I am planning to take it in soon. Seems to be a common issue.

Same problem for me too. Interested in any tips to have this fixed. This seems to be a software issue.

[Baboum68]

Originally Posted by Baboum68

Same problem for me too. Interested in any tips to have this fixed. This seems to be a software issue.

Which software version do you have?

[LexxM3]

Curious what theory of operation is behind the thoughts that these misalignments are likely software issues?

[rlou]

FWIW, I was originally on 03/2019.35, but it appears they upgraded my software to 03/2019.48 now.

Based on my experience, hard to say if it's s/w issue or not. They definitely seem to have tried steps to realign the camera, and they also upgraded s/w it seems. Now they want to replace h/w module even though the issue seems to be fixed for me now.

So, in my case between attempts to realign the camera and s/w update it appears 1 and/or both of those worked.

Based on the advice above, I may just let them replace the h/w module also when the part arrives...

[LexxM3]

Originally Posted by rlou

FWIW, I was originally on 03/2019.35, but it appears they upgraded my software to 03/2019.48 now.

Based on my experience, hard to say if it's s/w issue or not. They definitely seem to have tried steps to realign the camera, and they also upgraded s/w it seems. Now they want to replace h/w module even though the issue seems to be fixed for me now.

So, in my case between attempts to realign the camera and s/w update it appears 1 and/or both of those worked.

Based on the advice above, I may just let them replace the h/w module also when the part arrives...

Software is a magic black box as far as service departments (and the rest of humanity) is concerned. No one, and I MEAN no one, at all, knows what changes, fixes, or fresh breaks are in each version of BMW software. On this issue, I would bias toward the s/w update being a correlative red herring rather than a cause of the break or the cause of the fix.

I say that because the various reports don't fit a s/w bug type of sense: different sides, different angles and amount of misalignments, consistent from cycle to cycle — not how s/w usually fails, but is how hardware does. Plus we definitely know that camera physical misalignment is a possible and trivially likely issue. For example, I mentioned alignment to the dealer before pickup and they said "Absolutely, that's definitely one of the items on the checklist, your cameras WILL BE aligned" (and they were/are, on 3/2019.45 if anyone cares).

[TurtleBoy]

Some guy posted this on another BMW forum in regards to G05 camera alignment - "A video equalizer is used to flatten and compose the various camera views. There is no particular camera mechanical alignment of which I know."

Not sure whether he is speculating or actually knows. Seems to me though that the results of the process he mentions depends on the physical camera angle and that is where the alignment comes into play.

[Baboum68]

Originally Posted by TurtleBoy

Some guy posted this on another BMW forum in regards to G05 camera alignment - "A video equalizer is used to flatten and compose the various camera views. There is no particular camera mechanical alignment of which I know."

Not sure whether he is speculating or actually knows. Seems to me though that the results of the process he mentions depends on the physical camera angle and that is where the alignment comes into play.

I am on .35. Though OTA doesn't propose me to upgrade 🤔

[TurtleBoy]

Originally Posted by Baboum68

I am on .35. Though OTA doesn't propose me to upgrade 🤔

Sounds like OTA updates weren't released in France yet. I don't think a specific timeline/schedule has been published but hopefully we all get them within the next few months.

[Baboum68]

Originally Posted by TurtleBoy

Sounds like OTA updates weren't released in France yet. I don't think a specific timeline/schedule has been published but hopefully we all get them within the next few months.

On a French forum, somebody is on .48 already. I wonder if all updates are available via OTA

[TurtleBoy]

Originally Posted by Baboum68

On a French forum, somebody is on .48 already. I wonder if all updates are available via OTA

Last I saw, only Germany had the OTA updates available so most of us have to go to the dealer for the update.

[claykin]

Originally Posted by Baboum68

On a French forum, somebody is on .48 already. I wonder if all updates are available via OTA

iDrive 7 OTA updates only update the following 4 modules

HU-H3 - Media Graphics Unit - Also known as iDrive 7
TCB - Telematics Communications Box ATM-02
RSE - Rear Seat Entertainment (if so equipped)
KOMBISP18 - Live Cockpit Pro (dash)

3D Surround view module is not upgraded by OTA. To upgrade would require an iStep upgrade via ISTA.

[claykin]

Originally Posted by TurtleBoy

Some guy posted this on another BMW forum in regards to G05 camera alignment - "A video equalizer is used to flatten and compose the various camera views. There is no particular camera mechanical alignment of which I know."

Not sure whether he is speculating or actually knows. Seems to me though that the results of the process he mentions depends on the physical camera angle and that is where the alignment comes into play.

3D Surround view in G series cars takes the analog capture from the individual surround cameras and used ISP (Image Signal Processing) - in other words Digital Signal Processing - to create the image you see onscreen and in the 3D remote view.

G series cars have no dealer level calibration because this system is calibrated digitally by the OEM (BMW or their ODM partner) to the specific vehicle. When in the digital domain, calibration is done using special targets (much like motion capture) so the DSP can learn the edges of the car, where camera points intersect, etc... to ultimately create correction factors based on the camera location in the specific vehicle. I suspect BMW is working with their ODM partner to get this corrected and improvement will be included in a future iStep upgrade.

[claykin]

Originally Posted by LexxM3

Software is a magic black box as far as service departments (and the rest of humanity) is concerned. No one, and I MEAN no one, at all, knows what changes, fixes, or fresh breaks are in each version of BMW software. On this issue, I would bias toward the s/w update being a correlative red herring rather than a cause of the break or the cause of the fix.

I say that because the various reports don't fit a s/w bug type of sense: different sides, different angles and amount of misalignments, consistent from cycle to cycle — not how s/w usually fails, but is how hardware does. Plus we definitely know that camera physical misalignment is a possible and trivially likely issue. For example, I mentioned alignment to the dealer before pickup and they said "Absolutely, that's definitely one of the items on the checklist, your cameras WILL BE aligned" (and they were/are, on 3/2019.45 if anyone cares).

Actually, it is exactly how software fails. And when I say software fails, I'll be careful to also include the human element, software engineers. Or in this case, the offline calibration process done on the X5 possibly wasn't done correctly.

Yes, this is a software issue and it will be corrected once BMW and/or the ODM partner, get the calibration and corrections factors correct for the G05. And if its not calibration issues, maybe the ODM needs to correct their algorithms used to communicate with the ISP/DSP chip in the module.

A fix will come in a future iStep upgrade for the G05.

[LexxM3]

Originally Posted by claykin

Actually, it is exactly how software fails. And when I say software fails, I'll be careful to also include the human element, software engineers. Or in this case, the offline calibration process done on the X5 wasn't done correctly.

Yes, this is a software issue and it will be corrected once BMW and/or the ODM partner, get the calibration and corrections factors correct for the G05.

I am not saying that it's impossible for this to be a software issue. But if this is an issue to be corrected by a software update to our cars (let's define THAT as a "software issue"), one would have expected way way way more such misalignment reports than we've heard here (and there have been some assertion that we're a whiny bunch, so then for sure we would have had way more such reports — like all of us here- type of more).

Disagree? If so, I am still curious regarding the theory of operation of this alleged software defect that fits these observations.

[claykin]

Originally Posted by LexxM3

I am not saying that it's impossible for this to be a software issue. But if this is an issue to be corrected by a software update to our cars (let's define THAT as a "software issue"), one would have expected way way way more such misalignment reports than we've heard here (and there have been some assertion that we're a whiny bunch, so then for sure we would have had way more such reports — like all of us here- type of more).

Disagree? If so, I am still curious regarding the theory of operation of this alleged software defect that fits these observations.

1. Many cars don't have 3D surround view.

2. Some consumers don't realize/notice the issue

3. Some don't care

4. Some don't have a personality style to complain

5. Some don't visit forums

6. Maybe BMW/ODM software team has made changes to the camera module software and made it's worse/better in some iStep versions. So, maybe not everyone is impacted same. Keep in mind BMW may have made other car design changes they thought wouldn't impact the cameras, but maybe they did.

Nevertheless, it's 99% a software issue. The module is what it is. It's a Renesas DSP with the associated glue logic and the rest is software implementation.

If you want to better understand the theory of what causes this type of issue, I'd direct you to a course on digital ISP/DSP and implementation in a 3D environment.

[TurtleBoy]

Originally Posted by claykin

1. Many cars don't have 3D surround view.

2. Some consumers don't realize/notice the issue

3. Some don't care

4. Some don't have a personality style to complain

5. Some don't visit forums

6. Maybe BMW/ODM software team has made changes to the camera module software and made it's worse/better in some iStep versions. So, maybe not everyone is impacted same.

Nevertheless, it's 99% a software issue. The module is what it is. It's a Renesas DSP with the associated glue logic and the rest is software implementation.

I think you were providing good information until this post. There definitely is not a widespread issue with camera alignment it is only a few. While software is used to process the pictures and create the 3D image there is still a piece of hardware (the camera) that is involved. If that camera is bumped, jarred or moved by some other method then the process you described will not work since the "edges" have changed from the original setup. While the fix may be software running the recalibration process with new sensors, the problem was caused by hardware. Is that not the case or am I misunderstanding your original description?

[claykin]

Originally Posted by TurtleBoy

I think you were providing good information until this post. There definitely is not a widespread issue with camera alignment it is only a few. While software is used to process the pictures and create the 3D image there is still a piece of hardware (the camera) that is involved. If that camera if bumped, jarred or moved by some other method then the process you described will not worked since the "edges" have changed from the original setup. While the fix may be software running the recalibration process with new sensors, the problem was caused by hardware. Is that not the case or am I misunderstanding your original description?

Sorry you didn't like my last post. It's a forum reality.

The cameras in your G05 are securely mounted using screw points and likely a guide rail. There's very little variation from car to car unless BMW has issues with other material OEMs.

Keep in mind not every parking situation is interpreted the same by the DSP software. It may be only certain scenarios that cause the worst case visual outcomes you see on the forums.

[LexxM3]

Originally Posted by claykin

1. Many cars don't have 3D surround view.

2. Some consumers don't realize/notice the issue

3. Some don't care

4. Some don't have a personality style to complain

5. Some don't visit forums

6. Maybe BMW/ODM software team has made changes to the camera module software and made it's worse/better in some iStep versions. So, maybe not everyone is impacted same.

Nevertheless, it's 99% a software issue. The module is what it is. It's a Renesas DSP with the associated glue logic and the rest is software implementation.

1 granted. 2-5 generally or completely don't apply to members of this forum. 6 ok, maybe, maybe not, none of us have any sense of that.

The last part is not what I mean by "theory of operation of this issue". It is irrelevant what processor is used or who did it. What I mean by the question is that I can't visualize a software defect where the system still generally works, yet misaligns one or the other side by an angle and stays there for a specific car constantly from then onwards. I can certainly see how a physical misalignment does that, but not how software does that.

Well, to be fair, I CAN see a way — if calibration image/data gets corrupted, this could definitely occur this way. But a dealer recal should just clear that calibration data and start over, fixing it. Yet in this specific report this was not effective.

Anyway, I am not trying to argue about theoreticals, but it is interesting to speculate. What I really want is a) a decent software/UX/QA team at BMW, and b) BMW full transparency on what they change in each version, in digestible form of course.