CES 2021: BMW announces new iDrive generation

Meanwhile, it has indeed been 20 years since the debut of the first BMW iDrive. At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2021, BMW is now announcing the future iDrive generation, which aims to usher in a new digital and intelligent era of interaction between driver and vehicle. The digital BMW appearance at CES 2021 also includes a teaser video. In addition, another episode of the video clip series "Re-Thinking Design" was produced, which was launched as part of the BMW Group's #NEXTGen 2020. All content from BMW's appearance at CES 2021 as well as further digital presentations can be seen in a CES Special on the online platform at http://www.bmw.com/ces.

What is particularly interesting here is the now "historical" derivation of the iDrive system, which still counts as one of the best operable interaction systems between human and machine and has long since been expanded to include a very well-functioning voice control and rather questionable gesture control. With the debut of the new BMW 3 Series in 2018, a new, now online-based voice control made its way into Bavarian cars. The so-called "BMW Intelligent Personal Assistant" acts as a digital companion whose capabilities are continuously expanded. This is made possible by the modular and flexible vehicle software BMW Operating System 7, which also serves as the basis for another especially forward-looking service. The Remote Software Upgrade keeps the BMW always up to date with the latest digital technology and also enables additional functions to be integrated into the vehicle retroactively.

BMW promises a "new level"

The next-generation BMW iDrive is intended to "take the relationship between the BMW and its driver to a new level": According to BMW, a paradigm shift is once again on the horizon, as the sum of the functions available in the automobile and their complexity continue to increase continuously. Digital intelligence has entered the vehicle. Thanks to optimized sensor technology, it can perceive and analyze its environment. The advantage for drivers: Areas of driving and parking could thus be automated. Moreover, cloud-based services use a growing wealth of data, which is available in real-time.

In a variety of situations, the vehicle has a higher degree of information than the driver. For instance, it can receive and display hazard warnings from the BMW vehicle fleet and make predictions about the availability of parking spots at the destination. This development continues and presents new challenges to the display and control system today and in the future.

What does that mean?

The CES is exactly the right platform to present the iDrive of the future. According to BMW, it is designed to utilize the potential of an intelligently connected vehicle more comprehensively than ever before, making the mobility experience even safer, more comfortable, and more enjoyable. However, all of this must happen so subtly that the driver still feels in control of the decisions in their BMW and not patronized by their car as an uninformed, powerless user. Otherwise, the much-cited "joy of driving" quickly dissipates, and one might as well take buses and trains...