The official premiere for the new BMW iDrive infotainment architecture will take place next Monday via an online presentation organized on the streaming platform of BMW Group. At CES 2021, BMW signaled that a new infotainment platform is on its way. The successor to the current BMW Operating System 7.0, which was introduced in 2018, will likely return the proper ‘iDrive’ monicker, also joined by the ‘8’ particle to highlight the new generation.
The new BMW iDrive 8 will herald the advent of a new display and operating concept, already previewed in a preliminary version in the near-production iX premiered in November 2020. Taking centerstage in the new architecture will be the new Curved Display and the integral operation concept making use of the rotary knob, gestures, touch and voice commands. The iconic controller of the iDrive system turns 20 this year, marking the introduction of the new infotainment system a complete anniversary milestone for the hallmark piece that was first introduced in 2001 on the E65/E66 7 Series generation.
Furthermore, the new BMW iDrive 8 platform will further build up on the feature set of the current infotainment system and evolve in areas related to human interaction and artificial intelligence, making the whole user experience a natural and highly digitalized process. 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.
The new-generation BMW iDrive will be first installed in the new series iX and i4 electric vehicles coming this year, with other models to follow in 2022, such as the G70/G71 7 Series and G20/G21 3 Series LCI.
