Introducing the all-new BMW iDrive 8

[srbs73]

Originally Posted by Dking078

When did we stray so far from the BMW gods of yesteryear?

Centre screen looks good, not so keen on the 'instrument cluster'. Unnecessary eye candy for me.

I am hoping this is a mock up and not how an actual dashboard will look? Looks like a stick-on black plank.

[Jcali86]

Originally Posted by srbs73

Centre screen looks good, not so keen on the 'instrument cluster'. Unnecessary eye candy for me.

I am hoping this is a mock up and not how an actual dashboard will look? Looks like a stick-on black plank.

I'm pretty sure this is exactly how it's going to look. People need to get off Elon's d*ck and stop ruining cars with these awful iPad dash's

[MUFCbmwbear]

The current G series layout is near perfect. Coming from a F gen it felt insanely well updated in all the right places yet bmwesque.

This is far too revolutionary if/when it trickles down

[stvding]

Always up to date: Remote Software Upgrade.？？？？

Come on, what a joke. I never get any OTA on my 2020 m340 g20.....

[GOLFFRR]

super cool!

[Dog Face Pony Soldier]

I like the idea of having things like the position of side-windows and sunroof shade as part of a scene or "mode." This is definitely cool. However the prioritization of voice control feels stale in 2021. Hasn't the experience of personal assistants (Alexa, Siri) in the home and mobile devices already shown us the limited attractiveness of voice control? I work in the consumer electronics industry and we've largely moved on from voice commands. Perhaps the mobile environment will fare differently for the vocal interface?

[JTYAMSHAYIN]

I actually like this more than MB new design choice. I prefer the screen more at eye level and not having to look down to see a screen. Still though, I don't see how this will look natural in most M models. It looks way to luxury and tech focused and not any way like they are trying to appeal to the sportscar enthusiasts.

[cfm56d7b]

I had to think quite a bit before formulating my thoughts about the iDrive 8. So many alarming observations and one plus.

What I find alarming:

- Excessive reliance on touch controls and audio commands. There is nothing wrong with buttons and muscle memory is a safer bridge between wish and execution.
- More opportunities for distracted driving. Insurance companies now have a reason to raise the rates
- "Welcome to the neon jungle" design language is begging for the driver to have the option to customize what's being shown

Pluses
- Less than ideal design choices, gauge layouts can now be corrected via the OTA update

Verdict
- The new iDrive will discussed at an even higher decibel level than the front fascia changes. Drivers literally live with iDrive 100 percent of the time

To be continued - no doubt.

[Max86]

Originally Posted by CntryClub007

No actual buttons and knobs for controls? Bye bye BMW!

Agree, after 4 BMWs I will need to look elsewhere. It looks like none of the Germans still offer anything decent in terms of driver interface. After my F30 and now the G30 - although both great cars and especially the B58 engine is a killer engine! - I would love something that drives and feels like a BMW again. Next car might just be an Alfa...

[JustChris]

0/10 for the new screen integration. I mean at least pretend to try? It's just slapped on there 😬😳

[Rikvdb]

I have to say I'm very underwhelmed.
Taste is personal but I find it ugly, not sure what it adds and overal the presentation is very much a lot of marketing BS.

5g is great, fast updates also. Other than that not convinced what we're winning here ...
Even the hardware of the screens doesn't thrill me in any way ...

[ramparts]

I get the gold/pastel theme for the i cars, I do. But surely that’s not the colours they are going for for the “normal” staple models ?

[JorgenM]

Looks great. BMW has always had the best infotainment system.

[eljay]

Looks nice, but I'll take uDrive > iDrive

[buckybadger]

This will take over all the instrument clusters going forward.

I have mixed feelings. For driving, we need some buttons.

Going cold turkey in touch screen and voice doesn't help safety. Unless the goal is to finally replace the driver. But still should only introduce all this tech when driverless BMW is fully ready.

This is just a tease on what's to come. Now everybody is chasing Tesla.

[xlover]

I like the screen and display concept, not sure I love the implementation as a free standing pedestal on the iX. Curious to see how this design blends in with the volume models interiors as they hit LCI. I expect the curved display to be a bit more embedded into the dash and more hard buttons to survive.

I like they focused on voice control and touch, gesture control while the likely future (when mixed with voice) still needs a more common language and the camera tech isn't great at recognizing nuance yet.

[LogicalApex]

I am underwhelmed compared to what MB demoed at CES. BMW has a lot of catching up to do.

Voice can be nice for entering destinations and various long form tasks while driving, but there are diminishing returns as you move away from those tasks. I am not interested in having conversations with the BMW personal assistant. I am also less interested in it automatically determining things like climate needs based on AI. That’s a very personal situation and likely influenced by a lot of factors.

Much more interesting would’ve been surfacing the things I need on my drive that are of immediate use. Perhaps noticing how long I tend to drive before taking a break so it can suggests stop points along the way or giving you quick access to a contact you need to call based on your calendar. Actionable things to make the drive nicer.

The majority of this stuff comes off as gimmicky...

Then you have the mess of updates, support life cycles, and etc that are layered onto this. My 5 series from MY2020 got a weakened gimped version of iDrive 7 without support got RSU. The LCI MY2021 got RSU support and now iDrive 8 is out with no path to iDrive 8 for those cars. Makes RSU seem gimmicky and weak too. Also a precedent was set that BMW may roll out iDrive 8 to various cars with limited support for advertised platform features.

BMW is still far behind.

They need to move toward a standard platform that allows them to support iDrive longer and offer upgrades to iDrive versions as long as underlying hardware allows. Similar to Tesla. So users can have a reason to ascribe value to these updates.

Won’t happen though.

[///M TOWN]

I'll take Tesla's one screen media Interface any day over this

The only thing Tesla is lacking is CarPlay and Android Auto

Otherwise Tesla completely knocked it out of the park

[NoImDirtyDan]

I keep looking for reasons NOT to buy a Tesla, and BMW keeps giving me a reason to.

[Masander]

Nope.
[IMG]https://64.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m...gjk0o1_500.gif[/IMG]

[Chappers 71]

Noooooo.....

[///M TOWN]

Originally Posted by JorgenM

Looks great. BMW has always had the best infotainment system.

When the car can actually drives itself I will see this as great added entertainment and convenience

What concerns me currently is giving drivers another reason to be a distracted

As if there isn't enough w/new drivers texting as they drive