One of BMW’s core brand tenets is the sheer excitement of driving its vehicle — your reflexive smile as you grip an M5 steering wheel while carving a corner or the power of the twin turbo engine under your foot, for instance.
So, what happens when we’re no longer behind the wheel and these emotional connections fall away? Or, as WIRED editor in chief Nick Thompson asked during a fireside chat with BMW’s SVP of Customer and Brand, Jens Thiemer, at CES 2020: “When a robot is driving you, how do you differentiate yourself?”
According to Thiemer, you do it by building on BMW’s heritage, offering the best experience possible, regardless of what the customer is doing, even if they’re outside the vehicle. Meaning, using the BMW Connected app for monitoring your Bimmer or using the concierge service to book a restaurant or ask for the nearest shopping mall.
The automaker still has to deliver the driving dynamics its reputation is built on — regardless of who’s behind the wheel — ensuring driving isn’t just a necessity, but that it’s fun to do as well.
“We know what the joy of driving yourself is,” Thiemer said. “It’s our legacy.”
The next task is translating autonomous driving.
Whereas the German automaker has built what it calls the “ultimate driving machine” for over 100 years, as we progress toward a self-driving future it needs to provide “the ultimate relaxing machine” and “the ultimate entertainment machine” too, Thiemer said.
In 2011, BMW debuted BMW i. Now, Thiemer says the lauded i3 is still one of the most relevant cars, leveraging the brand’s innovative image. More than that, he’s bullish about its future as a cornerstone for the company’s electric and autonomous offerings.
Automakers have realized how hard it is to get to Level 5 autonomy (no steering wheel; vehicle drives itself), and have been spending time fleshing out what happens at Level 3, when a vehicle can operate semi-autonomously and humans can relax on the highway.
At CES 2020, the company showed off several concepts that illustrated its plans for getting there. Those included an “urban suite” version of the i3 that replaces the back seat with a table and comfy chair; puts a footrest where the front passenger seat would typically reside; adds a flip-down display to the headliner and a personal sound zone. Only the driver’s seat and steering wheel remain untouched from the standard model.
The idea is to give passengers a similar experience to that of a first-class plane ride or boutique hotel, with the goal of maximizing relaxation.
A fleet of 20 were operating around Vegas during the show this year.
“Level 3 [autonomy] is knocking at the door,” Thiemer said. “You can see the potential for that car.”
Once we get to Level 5, things get really interesting. BMW is reimagining how we’ll interact with the nascent displays that have replaced traditional control knobs and buttons as well as putting the windshield to work with its BMW i Interaction EASE concept. The exhibit showcased a transparent display on the glass, overlaying info about the road ahead. It used gestures, eye-tracking and facial recognition for interaction — not blind taps on a dashboard touchscreen. It will also morph the interior into a personal movie theater or slumber spot, depending on user choice. Thiemer teased that we’ll see similar functionalities in the 5G-enabled BMW iNext SAV (sport activity vehicle) slated for 2021.
“The next chapter of BMW i is really happening,” Thiemer said.
The automaker views CES as an “extreme showcase,” where the company can imagine without boundaries. Once engineers no longer have to worry about integrating a combustion engine or a driveshaft tunnel, the possibilities for cabin design are virtually limitless. In many cases, you can make the same size interior on a smaller footprint.
This would allow for far more individual use cases and customization options for the customer, offering an adaptable space tailored specifically to the activity at hand. It’s a blank slate after a century of technical limitations.
“It’s the dream of every designer,” he said. “The creative use of space with battery electric vehicles is much more flexible.”
Even if some of its concepts don’t have steering wheels, Thiemer doesn’t predict BMW will ever only make self-driving vehicles with movie-screen windshields. Instead, he sees an expansion of today’s landscape, where people still own a vehicle, but will take an autonomous ride to the airport, as an example.
He believes choice will be another competitive advantage for BMW.
“Our task for the future is to go into very individualized use cases,” he said. “There’s not one car for every customer.” For one customer, the i3 with a lounger might be the most practical option, for others maybe it’s an M5.
It’s up to BMW to adapt and offer choices for everyone — something other automakers are cutting back on — while not losing its identity along the way. BMW explicitly wants you to drive its cars. But even the most talented mechanical engineer can’t design a way to make traffic jams and road construction less frustrating. Maybe the ultimate relaxing machine could.
