Next-Gen BMW iDrive Unveiled With Panoramic Vision
The next generation of BMW’s iDrive infotainment system is making its global debut this week at the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) in Las Vegas. At technology partner Amazon’s booth, visitors can get an initial impression using a beta version in an X3 crossover. The real thing will be introduced in all new BMW models from the end of 2025.
A couple of months earlier, The Car Guide attended a technical presentation of the system at the automaker’s U.S. headquarters in Spartanburg, South Carolina. We were led into a dark room where a giant screen showed the dashboard of the Neue Klasse, which is the platform future BMW electric vehicles will be based on. Meanwhile, a second display showed a car’s interface along with a redesigned steering wheel that is a significant departure from current designs.
- Also: BMW Teases Electric M3 With Neue Klasse Design and Four Motors
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Adaptable Steering Wheel
To make things simple for drivers, the new multifunction steering wheel uses BMW’s shy-tech approach, whereby the relevant buttons are illuminated to highlight available functions. The steering wheel serves as the primary physical control, and its buttons provide active haptic feedback.
The arrangement of the buttons follows the familiar principle of driver assistance functions being positioned on the left-hand side of the steering wheel and content-controlling functions on the right-hand side. We counted as many as 18 buttons, so it’s pretty smart not to illuminate those that drivers are not using. Ultimately, the goal is to keep one’s attention on the road rather than the steering wheel, so hopefully the new design will be intuitive enough to achieve that.
Personalized Infotainment
Highlighting the new iDrive system is Panoramic Vision, a head-up display concept newly developed by BMW for projecting information from pillar to pillar onto a black-printed surface in the lower section of the windshield. The most important driving information is projected directly into the driver's line of sight on the left-hand side, above the steering wheel.
The driver can personalize the content (map, range, weather, music, etc.) in the central and right-hand areas by swiping widgets on the main touchscreen. The integration of Panoramic Vision creates a 3D effect for the driver and passengers, and said content remains visible even when wearing polarized sunglasses.
Optionally, the new 3D Head-Up Display above Panoramic Vision shows integrated navigation and automated driving information directly in the driver’s field of vision and in a neatly coordinated way.
Suggestions Based on User Habits
Thanks to its brand new interface that’s said to be smarter, BMW is able to analyze drivers' habits in greater detail. Depending on location, time of day or week, the Intelligent Personal Assistant can—if the driver desires—make suggestions proactively based on user behaviour. This obviously raises concerns about the use of personal data and possibly selling it to advertisers. The company explained to us that data would not be used to display suggestions of places to visit or products to buy. Hopefully it will stay that way in the future.
As an example, the system may suggest activating Sport Mode on suitable routes if the driver has already activated Sport Mode independently beforehand. If the driver doesn’t respond to or ignores these proactive suggestions several times, the system learns and refrains from making suggestions from then on.
The BMW Panoramic iDrive continues the approach of using a combination of analog and digital controls through the use of switches, buttons, touch and voice control. The touchscreen remains the most conventional and most integral part of the system, with graphics changing based on drive mode selection and content personalization. It could even display family or travel pictures of your own if you wanted to.
