Infiniti Q50 to know its driver by name

Infiniti's upcoming 3 Series rival places significant emphasis on personalising itself based on the occupants it is carrying. Able to remember the preferences of up to four people, the Q50 can recall information such as whether the driver prefers an ABC or QWERTY keyboard, how they like their car’s performance to be delivered, and can recall up to 16 of their favourite photographs to be displayed on one of the car’s two infotainment screens.

The premium Japanese car maker calls the system 'My car knows me', and claims that with 96 selectable settings across 10 functions, there are more than one billion possible personalisation permutations.

Central to the technology is the Infiniti Q50's 'i-key'. Each vehicle comes with two of the advanced keys that store personal settings for two different drivers. My car knows me and i-key technology will be available in select trim levels in the range, depending on the market.

Infiniti claims the Q50 sports a world-first feature it calls direct adaptive steering, which serves to “magnetise” the car to the centre of a lane. The Q50 will also debut a number of optional safety and comfort technologies for the brand including collision intervention, lane control and blind spot monitoring features.

Memory functions on cars are not a new invention, with many cars featuring options that remember basic driver preferences such as seat position and car temperature.

The Q50 has been priced from £27,950 ($46,800) in the UK, though exact local prices have yet to be revealed. It is scheduled to launch in the final quarter of this year, and is expected to be offered with a 2.1-litre four-cylinder Mercedes-sourced diesel engine and a 3.7-litre V6 petrol engine. It is unclear whether or not we will get the hybrid model, which mates a 221kW/346Nm 3.5-litre V6 petrol engine with a 50kW/270Nm electric motor.