BMW has revealed the production version of the next-generation Panoramic iDrive interface that will feature in all of its future models.
The bold new system, revealed at Las Vegas’s CES tech event, will first be used in the production version of the Neue Class X electric SUV, due later this year, then subsequently be adopted by both electric and combustion models.
The Panoramic iDrive interior concept comprises four separate elements, with the most eye-catching a chunky display that is projected across a black strip stretching across the width of the windscreen.
It includes key driving information – such as speed – in front of the driver, alongside which are six customisable ‘particle’ slots.
There is then a centrally positioned touchscreen, which is notably angled towards the driver, running BMW’s new Operating System X software.
Based on Android code, OS X has been developed in-house, with the X (rather than 10) designation subtly noting that it marks a step change from the old OS 9.
For right-hand-drive models, BMW will produce a touchscreen that slopes in the opposite direction.
It is capable of receiving over-the-air software updates and has been fully developed as a touch- and voice-control system.
It has also been designed to be more intuitive. For example, the sat-nav map is now the standard background.
It features no physical controls, with BMW reasoning that these have limited its ability to offer more complex and varied options.
The system works in conjunction with a new steering wheel featuring a number of physical buttons that offer haptic feedback.
Finally there’s an optional 3D head-up display (HUD) that projects info into the driver’s line of sight above the Panoramic Vision strip.
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UX here looks bad, to the point of further compromising driver safety. It's completely inconsistent to have legislation against using phones at the wheel, whilst allowing these types of interfaces to relegate all functions to a heads-down display. It also wouldn't take much, iDrive 7-style, to get a happy compromise between the two whilst getting all the great heads-up features here.
Good to see that Euro NCAP 26 is going to start pushing back on certain functions being touch based - hopefully this will be extended beyond 'critical' functions to 'common' functions.
As with many things, the answer will lie somewhere in the middle...
Why does BMW need to sell a distracting 'Panoramic i-Drive interface'?
1. "It is capable of receiving over-the-air software updates and has been fully developed as a touch- and voice-control system."
- OTA systems are not new so not a reason to change a proven dashboard. Dashboards have been 'touch-controlled' since the first car hit the road - again, not new. Voice control does not require massive digital screens and does not preclude the use of physical buttons and dials.
2. "It has also been designed to be more intuitive. For example, the sat-nav map is now the standard background."
- This is a response to the nature of recent generations of BMW's digital dashboards, which are less intuitive than the old school dials and buttons dashboards: it is a relative standard that does not suggest this new design will set a high standard of intuitive use.
3. "It features no physical controls, with BMW reasoning that these have limited its ability to offer more complex and varied options."
- Why would the driver want 'more complex and varied options' in his or her principal interface in controlling a two tonne vehicle moving at up 70 mph on busy roads?
Dear BMW, what is the principal function of a car's dashboard?
The answer from a driver is surely to facilitate the safe operation of the car.
It feels like BMW's answer is "to generate sales and profit for the company in a variety of new ways".
This design guy is both very clever and a complete idiot. Has forgotten all about real life.I'll challenge him to an experiment :7pm on the next rainy evening in the January darkness. A 10km section of an A-road, with curves & undulations, no street lighting, normal traffic.He drives a working prototype of this Neue Klasse ; I drive a similar sized BMW from, say, 2005.The same pre-recorded set of instructions is played to both of us during the 10km drive, telling us at irregular intervals to adjust various normal controls eg ventilation temp & direction, radio station & volume, rear window heater on... normal items.Shortest total time taken to make all the adjustments gets EUR 100,000 from BMW.I'll win easily.
I dunno, voice activation is pretty quick and easy.