BMW's Neue Klasse-based models will get a dashboard-wide head-up display
Unveiled at CES 2023, the BMW i Vision Dee concept is a mission statement created to illustrate the direction the German firm will take in the second half of the 2020s. We know its electric platform will reach production, and we’ll see its massive head-up display in showrooms as well.
Called BMW Panoramic Vision, the technology illustrates one way the company plans to continue delivering the ultimate driving machine in an increasingly digital world. It was designed to minimize distractions and let the driver focus on the road ahead. Driving-related information, such as speed and lane markings, is presented right in front of the driver. The middle part of the display shows what you’d normally find in the infotainment system’s touchscreen, like entertainment options. Finally, additional information can be sent to the part of the display positioned right ahead of the front passenger. The driver can choose who sees what, or shut off some parts of the display entirely.
“The windshield becomes a single large display, opening up completely new possibilities for the design of our vehicles. Whether the driver decides themselves which information they want to display in their own field of vision, or that all occupants can see the entire content,” explained Frank Weber, the BMW board member in charge of development, in a statement.
Speaking on the sidelines of the iX5 launch, BMW boss Oliver Zipse explained to Autoblog why the company is investing in this technology.
“Driving distraction, we think, is going to be the biggest problem in today’s architectures. To operate the car, you have to look away. This is a dangerous thing,” he said. “That all has to do with sheer driving pleasure: head-up display, hands on the wheel and eyes on the road.”
BMW will release more details about the Neue Klasse (New Class) platform and the models it’s being developed to underpin at the 2023 Munich auto show opening on September 5. The first Neue Klasse-based cars are due out in 2025 with electric power, though BMW hasn’t ruled out building a hydrogen-powered model on the architecture by integrating the storage tanks into the space reserved for the battery.
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