The Death Of The BMW iDrive Infotainment Knob Is Almost Here

If there’s one thing that’s certain about in-car tech, it’s that the short-term outlook sees displays engulfing more and more of our dashboards. Change is necessary as few things ever sit still, but change can also erode familiarity. The next generation of BMW’s iDrive infotainment system is nearly here, and judging by a preview at CES, it looks to be doing away with the famous iDrive knob originally introduced some 24 years ago.

Previewed in concept cars such as the Vision Dee, one of the defining features of Panoramic iDrive is what BMW imaginatively calls BMW Panoramic Vision, an enormous head-up display projected onto an equally titanic black frit band at the bottom of the windshield. It’s where you’ll find stuff like vehicle speed, state of charge, and customizable widgets including distance to your destination and the weather outside.

Putting key information closer to the base of the windscreen seems great, although I’m curious as to what a tachometer would look like once this system finds its way into combustion-powered cars. I’m also curious as to whether projecting a HUD onto an opaque black surface compensates sufficiently for a HUD’s tendency to wash out when viewed through polarized sunglasses.

On the face of things, the central touchscreen interface of Panoramic iDrive looks a whole lot like iDrive 8.5, and while it will support Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, its resemblance to the outgoing system is enough to cause concern. See, while iDrive 8.5 did add a shortcut menu over its iDrive 8 predecessor, its lack of physical controls can be frustrating. For instance, the controls for heated seats are one menu structure deep in the touchscreen, and that can be annoying in cold weather if you’re wearing gloves. At the same time, there’s so much going on in the infotainment system that it can be difficult to navigate, and that might be the case here too.

With the current iDrive 8.5, physical controls have already been so thoroughly reduced that the iDrive knob remains a sort of kind refuge for scrolling through sensitive menus. Hop into a current BMW with iDrive 8.5 and you’ll find no physical temperature controls, for example. Unfortunately, it seems like Panoramic iDrive is ditching even more physical controls because it looks like the iconic iDrive knob is going away.

BMW makes no mention of a rotary controller, and no iDrive knob is shown in the tech demo. It shouldn’t be surprising, considering the lightweight iDrive 9 used on front-wheel-drive-based models like the X1 also doesn’t include a rotary knob, but that doesn’t make it less poignant. Considering how a rotary controller has been a defining characteristic of iDrive for the past 24 years, it truly feels like the end of an era. Sure, the first version of iDrive was too complex, but once the submenu structure was simplified, the scroll knob made for a relatively intuitive experience. So what’s on the table now for those who don’t always want to prod through a touchscreen? Well, here’s what BMW has to say:

The system continues the approach of using an optimal combination of analogue and digital controls through the use of switches, buttons, touch and voice control. There are haptic switches for the windscreen wipers, turn signal indicators, exterior mirrors, volume control, gear selectors and window de-icers. Other functions are optimised for operation using touch/voice control or via the multifunction steering wheel, such as telephone functions, media control systems, navigation, assisted driving, personalisation of displays, selection of MyModes and much more besides.

Look, physical controls for exterior mirrors and the shifter is real bottom of the barrel stuff, but since Tesla moved shifting duties to the touchscreen and several automakers require you to go through their infotainment systems to adjust the mirrors, I guess relegating those functions to the infotainment isn’t off the table. However, other than a physical volume control, the only thing close to physical controls for anything that isn’t a core driving function is the right pad on the multifunction steering wheel, and that brings further questions when you zoom in.

Those sure look like capacitive touch controls, don’t they? Given the vitriol Volkswagen’s taken over the past few years for its use of capacitive touch steering wheel controls, it seems surprising that BMW’s gone with touch-based steering wheel controls, but here they are. For instance, accepting a phone call from the steering wheel controls is done with a swipe rather than a press. It’s all very flash, but it’s not hard to find some concerns in how this whole system might operate and age. Plus, although it’s certainly techy, is it luxurious?

Luxury is ease. Luxury is tactile. Luxury is physical. Rap’s A-listers don’t spit bars about Apple Watches, they rap about Audemars Piguets, Hublots, and Patek Phillipes. Likewise, actual real-world luxury shoppers still buy automatic watches, not out of accuracy or reliability because they all have slight time drift and all require servicing, but because of the craftsmanship in each piece. Luxury will hire professionals to do the things they don’t want to do, or that wouldn’t be a productive and enjoyable use of their time. Luxury is less, but well-made and intuitive. Is having Zoom conferencing and mobile games in your car luxurious? Things to think about.

Anyway, expect BMW’s Panoramic iDrive to first appear next year in the Neue Klasse iX3, an incoming compact electric crossover that shouldn’t be confused with the existing iX large electric crossover. From there, we can expect it to proliferate BMW’s lineup, potentially sweeping all the way from the X1 subcompact crossover to the M5, and so on. We’ll miss the iDrive knob when it’s finally gone. Sure, it’s currently vestigial, but it’s an artifact from a different time. A time when enthusiasts bought BMWs because they simply drove better than any competing sedans.

(Photo credits: BMW)

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