BMW iDrive: The Original Sets New Standards.

Second generation of BMW's innovative control concept even more
intuitive and easier to use after intense development and testing.
Already featured throughout the BMW model range from the 1 to the 7
Series. Munich. Everything in view. Everything under control.
Proceeding from this clear-cut principle, BMW presented the innovative
iDrive control concept back in 2001, becoming the world's first car
maker to offer a system allowing the user to mastermind essential
vehicle, entertainment, navigation and telecommunication functions via
a central Controller on the centre console and a multifunctional
Control Display in the instrument panel, in this way replacing a wide
range of conventional switches, buttons and displays. Now, seven years
later, BMW proudly presents the second generation of BMW iDrive. The
superiority of this thoroughly new system compared with comparable
copies introduced in the meantime by the competition is the result of a
consistent development BMW started back in 2002 just one year after
launching the first generation of iDrive and is based not only on
research know-how in the areas of ergonomics and perception studies,
but also on the results of empirical analyses and practical tests
naturally embracing customers the world over. Unique: BMW iDrive as
the ideal solution from the compact car all the way to the luxury
class. The basic principle of BMW iDrive to separate the control unit
and the display from one another has been adopted in the meantime by
other premium car makers. But the original still sets the standard -
particularly after the introduction of the new generation of BMW iDrive
presented in autumn 2008 in the new BMW 7 Series and the new BMW 3
Series. At the same time BMW's new iDrive is now entering the market in
the BMW 6 Series, the BMW 5 Series, and the BMW 1 Series. No other
manufacturer is therefore able to offer such a convincing, uniform
control concept in such a large number of different vehicle segments
ranging from the compact car all the way to the luxury performance
saloon. Not least, this is why BMW iDrive has long become the synonym
for multifunctional display and control in the automobile. Positioned
in ideal ergonomic arrangement on the centre console, the Controller is
now as important to many motorists as the mouse for the user of a
computer. More than two million cars with BMW iDrive have been sold
since 2001. Systematic development with customer tests the world over.
In the course of the development process which already started back in
2002, four possible concepts were considered for the new generation of
iDrive for their user-friendliness. All phases in the development of
BMW's new iDrive were furthermore accompanied by intense customer
enquiries and practical tests. This involved the use of mobile driving
simulators, cockpit models and two concept cars equipped with
prototypes of the new system variants. An evaluation programme with a
total of 500 representative test persons was furthermore conducted at
four different locations in Europe, America and Asia. The focus in these
tests was to conduct various control operations in typical driving
situations. One example was the process of changing lanes on the road
first without performing any additional functions and subsequently while
entering one's destination at the same time. This lane change test
clearly showed which concept made it particularly easy for the driver
to largely maintain his ideal line while using the navigation system.
In the process the updated concepts were optimised until finally BMW's
engineers and researchers were able to establish the best and most
suitable system, the second generation of BMW iDrive. A further
highlight in examining the features and qualities of BMW's new iDrive
was to optimise the time required by the user to operate the system
efficiently both when trying it out the first time and when using
iDrive regularly. A number of systematic comparisons quickly showed
that when using BMW's new iDrive even the very first time, and
particularly when using the system regularly, the user requires far
less time to make himself acquainted with the control operations than
with other systems offered by other manufacturers. The occlusion method
also applied for making comparisons with other manufacturers and their
systems provided particularly detailed information on
user-friendliness, enabling BMW's engineers to determine how and under
which conditions the user is able to interrupt a specific control
operation. This test clearly showed that BMW's new iDrive allows the
driver to split up tasks such as selecting a specific source of music
or determining his destination in the navigation system into several
control steps conducted one after the other, with the driver required
to take his eyes off the road only very briefly. In other words, the
driver is able to complete individual operations such as navigating to
his destination by means of lists or changing among various radio
stations in a "blind" process, without even looking at the
controls. Once again, therefore, the occlusion method confirmed the
decision already taken in developing the first generation of iDrive to
opt for interaction of the Controller and Control Display instead of
using a touchscreen. BMW's new iDrive: easy to understand, easy to
memorise, clearly structured. BMW's new iDrive ideally fulfils the tasks
and requirements defined in the development phase. In its design and
configuration, the new Controller follows the most advanced
biomechanical know-how reflected by the Controller's touch surface and
clearly structured mechanical features. The individual operating steps
with the Controller being tipped to the side, turned or pressed, are
largely the same as the operation steps conducted by the user of a
computer with his mouse. Turning the Controller, for example, the user
browses through a list of individual menu items, then pressing the
Controller to confirm the function chosen. Tipping the Controller to
the left or right, on the other hand, the user is able to navigate
through the various menu levels. Introducing the second generation of
BMW iDrive, BMW now offers a Control Display measuring either 10.2 or
8.8 inches and exceeding all existing graphic surfaces seen in an
automobile so far not only in terms of its size alone. Display
resolution of 1,280 x 480 pixels allows clear presentation of
true-to-detail graphics with a level of brilliance and clear focus quite
comparable to that of High Definition TV (HDTV). BMW as the driving
force in progress: from CARIN all the way to iDrive. Right from the
start, the development of BMW iDrive was directly based on a wide range
of experience already gained by BMW in the area of driver assistance
and interior configuration. As far back as in the 1990s, BMW's
designers and engineers started considering how the constantly
increasing number of comfort functions in the automobile might be
masterminded in the safest and most efficient manner. Up to this time
the integration of a new function in the car always involved the use of
additional buttons and displays in the cockpit. So back in 1994 the
engineers developing the then BMW 7 Series combined the world's first
navigation system in the automobile with the CARIN car information
system serving as an on-board computer. Six years later the first radio
system with an integrated navigation function was presented in the BMW
3 Series. And with iDrive entering the market just one year on, BMW for
the first time gave the driver the wonderful option to control a wide
range of different functions with one single control unit and a central
display: a genuine revolution in the cockpit of the car. Optimised
control concept for even greater supremacy. Supplementing the
Controller, multifunction buttons on the steering wheel gave the driver
the opportunity right from the start to activate selected entertainment
and telecommunication functions without having to take his hands off
the steering wheel. The favourite buttons then introduced in 2007
subsequently helped to make control operations even easier and more
systematic. Now the new generation of BMW iDrive comes with no less than
eight favourite buttons on the centre console, enabling the user for
the first time to save not only radio stations, telephone numbers and
navigation destinations, but also all menu items subsequently available
for direct retrieval via iDrive. As an additional innovation, the second
generation of BMW's revolutionary control system comes with four direct
selection keys on the Controller for the menu options used most
frequently. Pressing these keys, therefore, the driver is able to
spontaneously change among the CD, radio, telephone and navigation
functions - in the same way as in entertainment electronics -
particularly quickly and efficiently, again making the entire system
very easy to learn and memorise. BMW iDrive leading the development
of vehicle control concepts. BMW iDrive has revolutionised the control
and operation of the car significantly and with a lasting impact. And
now this pioneering work is paying off once again, with BMW iDrive
remaining the benchmark for all systems of this kind. It is quite
astounding to note that hardly any user of a computer knows the name of
the US IT pioneer Doug Engelbart who almost 40 years ago took out a
patent on the computer mouse he had developed as a genuine breakthrough
in the world today. But with BMW iDrive the situation is exactly the
other way round: not only BMW drivers know exactly which cars boast the
unparalleled original.