BMW has revealed its all-new interior coming this year

BMW has revealed the production version of the next-generation Panoramic iDrive interface that will feature in all of its future models.

Panoramic projection and new touchscreen will feature in all future cars – but physical buttons will not.

The bold new system, revealed at Las Vegas’s CES tech event, as reported by Autocar, 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, such as the forthcoming 3 Series.

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.

As the various elements have been developed together, BMW claims they are fully integrated. So, for instance, the HUD will show directions while the Panoramic Display gives further info on roads.

BMW said the system was developed based on real-world anonymised usage data gleaned from its existing fleet of more than 22 million vehicles and then refined in usability lab tests. 

Key elements of the new BMW interior

3D head-up display: This optional unit projects navigation and driving information, complementing that in the Panoramic Display, onto the bottom of the windscreen.

Panoramic Vision: This dashboard spanning projection features six slots. Driving information is fixed, the rest can be customised.

Steering wheel: The primary physical controller features ‘shy-tech’ haptic buttons, which will illuminate when certain functions are available, such as answering a phone call

Central display: Sloped towards the driver for ease of reach, this touchscreen features BMW’s latest operating system, OS X. Voice control also features.

Q&A: Christian Bauer, vice-president of user interface design, BMW

Why is the screen closer to the driver than before? 

“In the past, our screens have started behind the steering wheel and extended to the middle, so they have to be a little far away from you. With the Panoramic Vision, we can put the content that is really necessary up there where you have to look anyway and can move the touchscreen closer to you.”

Why is it angled like that?

“We put a 16deg kink on it, which nods to BMW heritage [such as the Hofmeister kink]. But it’s shaped in that direction because it means you have a perfect ergonomic position. It means you have a very short distance from the steering wheel to the display.”

Did you consider a vertically oriented screen?

“We want to enhance driver interaction, and our slogan is ‘eyes on the road and hands on the wheel’, which means everything has to be in a perfect situation. This is the perfect situation for the technology that we have right now.”

What else we know about the Neue Class BMWs

The radical new electric BMW 3 Series is being prepared to be launched in 2026, as the company gears up to take on the Tesla Model 3 and next Mercedes-Benz CLA.

Expected to revive the dormant i3 moniker, the electric 3 Series will be the second model to use BMW's new Neue Klasse modular EV platform, following the launch of the closely related iX3 SUV this year.

While the prototype in these images has clearly been toned down slightly for production from the radical concept, it does retain the distinctive new kidney grilles, which wrap around the front of the car and house all the radars and cameras needed to facilitate next-generation advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS).

The aforementioned iX3 will launch before the new 3 Series though and like the i3 saloon, the SUV will be based on BMW’s new EV-specific architecture, featuring an advanced new software stack running on four high-performance computers.

BMW said its new batteries are 20% more energy-dense than its current ones, while a new 800V electrical architecture enables them to charge up to 30% faster (the current iX3 can accept rates of up to 150kW).

It also claimed the Vision Neue Klasse X creates 20% less aerodynamic drag than a ‘comparable’ current model.

Key to the new SUV’s dynamic performance will be the four high-performance computers, including the ‘Heart of Joy’ system – a ‘superbrain’ that has been developed in-house to control all of a car’s dynamic functions.

Alexander Karajlovic, head of drive technology for the concept, said that “with the Neue Klasse cars we will redefine what is meant by sheer driving pleasure”.

BMW is also priming a futuristic two-seat coupé in the vein of the famed i8, which may arrive as part of its incoming Neue Klasse electric car line-up.

A new prototype has been spotted testing near the firm’s R&D base in Bavaria. Although heavily camouflaged, it clearly wears several key design cues from the Neue Klasse and Neue Klasse X concepts, such as the reinterpreted kidney grille.