After 20 years of the very first iDrive system, integrated into 2001 E65 7-Series, BMW decided to showcase the next generation of its world class infotaiment system. Coupled with all new screen design, much like all new models from Mercedes-Benz lineup, BMW will unveil its new digital creation during the CES 2021 show, which will be, like many others, hosted online for obvious reasons.
BMW even released short teaser video from the inside of new BMW iX, which is somewhat silly, but so is all of BMW’s marketing lately. BMW as a brand was always good at mass production tech. After their first iDrive in 2001, just three years later they presented the first head-up display unit, which projected information onto the windshield, then in 2015 they premiered the Gesture Control which allready found its way into all their models. But after all those success stories, it is still their iDrive system that has, for the last two decades, put them head and shoulders above all the competition, as it is widely still regarded as the best and most intuitive infotaiment system on the market.
Now in 2021, 20 years after the introduction of the first system, latest iDrive is said to bridge the gap between analogue and digital, as seen on the fully electric BMW iX. Thanks to the digital intelligence and optimized sensors, BMW cars can now in some situations have access to even more information than the driver. One example is how the latest iDrive system can receive and display hazard warnings from other BMW vehicles, while also making predictions regarding the availability of parking spaces at a destination.
BMW added: “The next-generation BMW iDrive is set up to utilize the potential of an intelligently connected vehicle more extensively than ever and so make the mobility experience even safer, even more comfortable and convenient, and even richer in variety.”
