The BMW Panoramic iDrive redefines the driver’s interaction with the new BMW iX3 50 xDrive
BMW’s latest iX3 50 xDrive isn’t just a masterclass in Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) driving dynamics and design for its segment.
With the BMW Panoramic iDrive control/operation system, we’re also introduced to a new way of interacting with the first of its coming wave of Neue Klasse models. This is accomplished through a combination of analogue and digital controls, featuring switches and buttons alongside touch and voice commands.
If you are a legacy car brand like BMW, creating a new model range like the Neue Klasse isn’t just the simple matter of throwing equipment and features at the wall to wow the pundits and see what sticks.
Ultimately, BMW first needs to convince its harshest critics, the long-standing brand devotees. With any new offering, this group needs to recognise some brand continuity and see it as a progressive evolution of BMW’s illustrious, century-plus-long lineage.
See also: Fast, (eco) friendly fun with the BMW Neue Klasse : Editor's Note
However, this isn’t enough in today’s market, because BMW’s Neue Klasse models must also appeal to a broader audience that may not yet be familiar with the brand’s core elements.
With regards to the vehicle’s information display and interface, BMW could have taken the easy way out and integrated everything into the central touchscreen, which has become the cornerstone in every modern electrified vehicle, but it didn’t.
See also: BMW iX3 50 xDrive Review : Neue Wow Order
In most modern BEVs, a preoccupation with minimalism ends up packing too many menus and too much information into the centre screen, which is why the BMW Panoramic iDrive makes for an elegant solution.
In the spirit of evolution, the brand introduces us to the BMW Panoramic iDrive.
Underpinned by the newly developed BMW Operating System X (based on the Android Open Source Project software stack), this immersive wraparound display is designed to optimise driver focus, information delivery and ergonomics. Displays, geometry, and light and sound design work together in harmony, with every element customisable via My Modes.
There is a wider scope for personalisation than before with BMW Operating System X. These can be implemented via “BMW ID”, intelligent driver assistance, a wide variety of digital functions, and “My BMW App” connectivity, while “BMW Software Updates” ensures a good degree of future-proofing.
As precision motoring instruments engineered to deliver sheer driving pleasure, driver focus has always been at the forefront of BMW’s control ergonomics for its cars and the new BMW iX3 50 xDrive is no exception.
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We like to think of BMW Panoramic iDrive as an evolution of the brand’s characteristic driver-oriented dashboard and centre console.
To recap, angling the dashboard and centre console towards the driver was first introduced in the E21 of the 1970s — the first-ever 3 Series. This let BMW shine a spotlight on its status as a creator of driver-focused cars, because it wanted its ultimate driving machines to transcend mere commuting appliances that only fulfilled A-to-B duties.
The intuitive BMW Panoramic iDrive is designed around BMW’s legendary “hands on the wheel, eyes on the road” principle to deliver a new level of driver focus, drawing on the legacy auto-maker’s decades of experience. In fact, the development approach to the BMW Panoramic iDrive takes into account individual customer feedback and data from over 10 million connected vehicles!
All the best user experiences in the current crop of BEVs we have enjoyed so far have featured an intelligent fusion of physical and touch-based controls, rather than being purely touch-based.
In the case of the iX3 50 xDrive, controls essential functions like the windscreen wipers, turn signals, exterior mirrors, volume control, gear-selector, parking brake, hazard lights and rear window heating/defrost are hard controls, whereas secondary elements are tied to touch/voice command or via the multi-function steering wheel.
BMW Panoramic iDrive comprises four main elements. Positioned at the driver’s eye-level, the BMW Panoramic Vision runs the full width of the windscreen, from A-pillar to A-pillar.
Key driving information is projected directly in the driver’s field of vision when needed or wanted — almost like a HUD (heads-up display) — while the content in the middle and the passenger’s side is fully customisable using a drag-and-drop system via a menu within the Central Display.
Above the BMW Panoramic Vision is positioned the optional BMW 3D Head-Up Display, which projects integrated navigation and automated driving overlays on the road with spatial depth.
The 17.9-inch Central Display with matrix backlight technology (pictured above) is built with a free-cut design and positioned within easy reach of the driver for optimal ergonomics.
Then, finally, we move on to the last of the four elements: a newly designed multifunction steering wheel, which serves as the main physical control unit. It even features a defiant central spoke in its upper section, simply because it can.
Don’t forget, with driving information shown on either the BMW Panoramic Vision or BMW 3D Head-Up Display, there are no cockpit displays behind the steering wheel and hence, nothing for this central spoke to block!
The steering wheel adopts BMW’s “shy-tech” philosophy, in which the controls for the car’s advanced features are hidden in plain sight and “uncloak” to become visible only when touched or needed.
The relief-like surfaces of the ergonomic buttons on the steering wheel are illuminated to engage available functions; these provide active haptic feedback when engaged, which is a nice analogue throwback.
All in all, this creates a clean, uncluttered cabin ambience that comes across as more classy than crass. The configuration of the controls on the steering wheel is logical, with driving-assistance functions on the left and infotainment and communications features on the right.
When the cars a brand like BMW produces are more automobile than appliance, technology should always be inobtrusive rather than overwhelming the proceedings, and the brand has admirably achieved this with the iX3 50 xDrive.
With the BMW Panoramic iDrive, BMW has tapped into its enduring legacy of driver-oriented ergonomics and elevated it for our modern, technology-driven era.
