BMW Debuts New iDrive Panoramic VisionBMW Debuts New iDrive Panoramic Vision

BMW introduced the next generation of its iDrive user interface with a super-sized mockup of the instrument panel of its upcoming Neue Klasse EV in an event at the CES show in Las Vegas.

The new iDrive features BMW Panoramic Vision, which is like a full-width head-up display across the bottom portion of the windshield. Like a HUD, Panoramic Vision is a reflection that is projected onto the windshield from the dashboard. Unlike a HUD, the portion of the windshield showing the image is backed with an opaque black material.

This ensures the visibility of the projected image in bright daylight and it also eliminates the problem of polarized sunglasses blocking the reflection in a conventional HUD. The display projects content that is visible to all vehicle occupants from A-pillar to A-pillar onto a black printed surface in the lower section of the windscreen, with the most important driving information projected directly into the driver's line of sight on the left-hand side, above the steering wheel.

As with most in-dash infotainment displays and HUDs, the information shown in the Panoramic Vision system is user-customizable, so drivers will be able to project the information that matters to them.
In fact, this preferred information is likely to change depending on the nature of the drive, a commute versus a road trip or brisk drive on a winding road, explained BMW chief development officer Frank Weber in a roundtable discussion with journalists attended by Design News.

Related:Audi Brings Augmented Reality to the Head-Up Display

The company plans to provide a selection of widgets for drivers to choose from when they configure their car’s Panoramic Vision display, and those drivers may want to group those widgets into shortcuts to display information appropriate for each kind of driving. “My view is always very trip-oriented,” he said. “I want to see consumption data and estimated arrival times, and everything is around [the] trip.”

BMW also showed a Sport mode that highlights performance data. “I also like that screen that you saw when you go to Sport mode,” said Weber. One of his favorite details is a virtual analog watt-meter for power output, he added. “Maybe I'm nostalgic here,” Weber admitted, quickly sketching the analog meter to illustrate his point. In EVs, range and charging are important factors that the Panoramic Vision can highlight when appropriate. “When you suddenly have low range, you are interested in [remaining] range and other things.”

Panoramic Vision is part of the next generation of BMW’s iDrive user interface that also includes configurable controls on the steering wheel. Underpinning the new iDrive is BMW’s new Operating System X, which serves as the intelligence hub for the various displays. The new iDrive and Panoramic Vision will debut with the first Neue Klasse model later this year, but then it will appear on each new BMW model as they are introduced.

Related:Head-Up Displays, Haptics Top List of Future Interfaces

Frank Weber's hand-drawn illustration of the virtual analog watt-meter that he enjoys on the Panoramic View display. DAN CARNEY

“High tech meets highly intuitive operation – a quarter of a century of pioneering work and technological leadership in operating concepts has been channeled into the new BMW Panoramic iDrive,” said Weber. “The foundations are provided by the new BMW Operating System X. With this advance, we are giving one of the world’s best and most comprehensive infotainment systems even greater capability and once again setting the industry benchmark in multimodal interaction.”

The four elements of the new iDrive are:

Related:BMW Tests Humanoid Assembly Robots from Figure AI

Physical controls in the form of buttons on the steering wheel have a relief-like surface that makes them easier to locate, keeping the driver’s eyes on the road. According to BMW, the arrangement of the buttons follows the 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.

Importantly, BMW has retained buttons and switches, with haptic switches for the windscreen wipers, turn signal indicators, exterior mirrors, volume control, gear selectors, and window deicers. Other functions are meant to be controlled through touchscreen, voice control, or the multifunction steering wheel.

We can judge BMW’s success in this endeavor only when we drive the Neue Klasse later this year. But the company says that it already asked 3,000 people for their opinions, through the BMW Group’s usability labs. Here, engineers watched to see how long it took users to perform various tasks and studied the mistakes that were commonly made to refine the interface, said Weber.

The Panoramic View display did not require any exotic new technology, Weber reported. BMW is employing three very typical displays in the top of the dashboard to provide the projected image onto the windshield. The challenge was in the packaging because that’s exactly where the ducts for defrosting the windshield lie. “This is a tricky, tricky area,” he said. “So the first thing is, integrating it in a way that it works.”

The computer needed to run all of these displays and the rest of the iDrive system could be a drain on available power that could shorten the range of EVs employing the system, Weber noted. BMW’s engineers toiled to minimize iDrive’s energy consumption. Asked if the process was similar to the scene in Apollo 13 when NASA engineers sought to find ways to stretch the crippled spacecraft’s remaining energy supply, he vigorously agreed. “This is about this is exactly how it works!” he said. “You have to count everything, what you need here, how you manage energy efficiency.”

That’s because the cost and weight of batteries make efficiency crucial for EV success. “The best battery cell is the battery cell that you don't have to install into a vehicle,” Weber concluded.