BMW has apparently seen your complaints about an influx of screens and tech in cars and decided that you can go to hell. The automaker’s latest iDrive system – debuting 24 years after the original – is information-maxxing and heads-up display-pilled. Still, its main screen hasn’t grown too much and there’s no gauge cluster. Instead, you get a massive “Panoramic Vision” screen that runs pretty much the length of the windscreen and an even more detailed heads-up display. BMW says it’ll be standard on every Neue Klasse model going forward, whether they’re gas-powered or EVs. There are four elements that make up this new interior: Panoramic Vision, a 3D heads-up display, a central display and a multi function steering wheel.
Panoramic Vision certainly represents a departure from the BMW cockpits of days gone by, even the more recent ones with their double-iPad screen layouts. All of your pertinent information is displayed on that massive screen at the base of the windshield. It’s visible to all occupants, but the most important information is reserved for the driver’s line of sight. All of the information it holds can be personalized through the aforementioned central display. I’m sure your dad is going to hate this.
Anyway, above that we’ve got the “3D Head-Up Display.” It acts pretty much like a normal HUD, but it has some augmented reality features that’ll help you get where you’re going when you’re using the car’s navigation system.
In the middle of the cockpit, we’ve got the central display: a free-standing, parallelogram-shaped infotainment touchscreen. While its shape is odd, I’ve got to assume its functionality is pretty normal. You can customize “QuickSelect” widgets on the screen so your most used function are only a click or so away. This will not stop your father from complaining that it’s too difficult to use.
Regardless, the final piece of this puzzle is its steering wheel, which will employ BMW’s “shy-tech” approach. Sure the wheel looks wacky and busy since its got four spokes and dozens of buttons, but most of the functions will only illuminate if they’re actually available to use. For example, if you get an incoming call, red and green phone symbols will appear on your wheel so you can either accept it or reject it. Any other time, they’re not illuminated. It’s all run by BMW’s new Android-based “Operating System X.”
One thing that is very noticeably absent from this interior is buttons. Other than the steering wheel, I can’t really see any. This shouldn’t exactly be surprising to you. Car companies do not care that you wish every function had its own button and screens should be relegated to clocks and radios. Use the “Hey BMW” function to talk to the car. You’ll be fine. It’s a brave new world folks, and some of you are getting left behind.
