BMW has posted an insightful video about its driving course named Security Vehicle. It targets professional armored car chauffeurs and features scenes you’d sooner expect to see in Hollywood action movies.
The company seasons that the chauffeurs need special skills in order to utilize the fullest defense potential offered by the SVs. To that end, it opened a dedicated training course at a former airfield near Berlin.
The basic training regime includes learning about the physics of heavy armored vehicles. Drivers must first master braking and obstacle evasion on asphalt before they can try their hand at avoiding pursuit in nighttime (different visibility conditions available). To learn to react to unforeseen circumstances, the drivers must complete a slalom obstacle course as explosions keep going off randomly next to the car. They must also pass an exam of sorts which involves a staged attack on the car.
The advanced course is much harder still. In addition to all the flashy pyrotechnics, it includes the basics of avoiding situations where another vehicle blocks the path or otherwise intercepts you, acting in the various scenarios where the car sustained structural damage, fire evasion maneuvers, and getting through ambushes. For the armored X5 SUV, the course additionally includes extreme off-road driving.