BMW has revealed the second of its BMW Group Vision vehicles in the highly futuristic form of the Neue Klasse
Its manufacturers call this mid-size SUV a Sports Activity Vehicle (SAV), distancing itself from some of the obvious off-road-inspired design cues with a more accessible, practical and everyday proposition, says its designer, Adrian van Hooydonk. He gives it the “robustness and presence of an SUV, only in a much cleaner way.”
The front of the concept sees the return of BMW's classic kidney grille from the 1970s and 1980s, which has since grown to almost comical proportions on more recent vehicles, but has now been shrunk to “complement the upright posture of the Neue Klasse “, according to van Hooydonk.
High-definition cameras mounted on slim arms replace the analogue rear-view mirrors, while both feature an all-new lighting signature at the front and rear.
As with the lower, sleeker and sportier Neue Klasse Vision Vehicle, there's a huge amount of glass to let in plenty of natural light.
Overall, the styling picks up where the iX left off. If the Neue Klasse
Naked inside
BMW's iDrive system has been around for almost 30 years, but it is often cited as one of the most intuitive and least distracting user interfaces in any modern vehicle. Its combination of physical buttons that can be assigned to shortcuts and an intuitive center dial make jumping between menus a breeze.
With that in mind, it's interesting to see that the interior of the Neue Klasse . driver and front passenger that extends from pillar to pillar.
In the video accompanying the reveal, a model can be seen interacting with the main central touchscreen, selecting widgets which are then placed in six programmable slots on the wide-view display. These appear to display condensed information about things like the current weather, the vehicle's remaining range, and time to destination.
The driver and/or passenger can then swap these widgets for a series of in-car and infotainment functions, creating a quick-style dashboard with the most important information.
BMW has also introduced the HYPERSONX steering wheel on its second Vision Vehicle, which is said to offer a series of “multi-function” buttons that help the driver interact with the system and core functionality.
Once again, video footage of the concept vehicle gives us a closer look at what this entails, and it appears there is a block of haptic buttons located on the flanks of the airbag module, with the left set of related switches with cruise control and vehicle functions. while the right adjusts the volume and skips tracks.
Fortunately, a pair of thin metal stems suggest that the wiper gauges and functionality are most likely mapped to physical switches. Something Euro NCAP recently said it would clamp down on in future safety tests.
There's also an AI voice assistant, which uses Amazon's artificial intelligence systems to deliver natural language interactions between occupants and the car.
Stephan Durach, senior vice president of connected business development at the BMW Group, says that in the future its cars will “become a personality,” as he says customers now want to actively converse with a machine.
Bolstering the in-car tech offering is a 3D head-up display that projects onto the windshield above the full-width panoramic view screen, but on Durach days it will only show key driving information, to avoid adding further distractions. .
Brains behind the operation
In addition to the new design direction and infotainment offering, BMW also wants to draw attention to the new “super brains” that will underpin the entire operation. It is a unique software stack that the German auto giant claims has been developed in-house.
Again, much was made of this at the launch of the original Neue Klasse at the 2023 Munich Motor Show, where BMW CEO Oliver Zipse unveiled the centralized computing system that would power future electric vehicles.
Instead of a collection of disparate ECUs, which we currently find in modern cars, the trend in the automotive space is to group them all into one extremely powerful computing center.
Leading processor maker Nvidia, a favorite Tier 1 supplier in the automotive industry, offers something similar in its Nvidia Drive units, of which its next-generation Orin and Thor systems-on-chip (SoC) have been adopted by companies such as BYD . , Xpeng and Zeekr to help with everything from advanced autonomous driving functionality to the use of machine learning in driver monitoring systems.
BMW doesn't reveal who it's working with, but says two of the four “super brains” it employs in both Neue Klasse and Neue Klasse X will be dedicated to driving dynamics, allowing for faster processing speeds and faster reaction times. fast in elements such as chassis control and electric stability control.
Frank Weber, member of the Board of Management of BMW AG and responsible for Development, says that the result will be “more dynamic performance, more precision, more efficiency and even more driving fun.”
For a brand that once clung to the slogans “Pure Driving Pleasure” and “The Ultimate Driving Machine,” ensuring its upcoming electric vehicles stand out from the competition with a genuine BMW-style driving experience could well be key to the future of the manufacturer's success.
