The G20 3 Series, expected at the end of this year after the X5 debut, will also get the updated infotainment system called BMW Operating System 7.0,.
BMW said the system software will be designed around the user’s individual requirements more closely than ever. It is touted as offering a clear layout and structuring, intuitive operation, and customisable and personalised displays, with the ultimate goal of feeding the driver with the right information at the right time.
The redesigned all-digital instrument cluster will have space to display a section of the navigation map as well as further, individually selectable content.
At the same time, it forms a seamless, uniformly designed display cluster with the Control Display in the centre console, which has been optimised to deliver intuitive touch operation and visualises content in real time on up to 10 freely configurable main menu pages, each containing between two and four pads.
The flat menu structure also enables fast access to all settings and functions. Multimodal interaction between the driver and vehicle has likewise been further improved with BMW Operating System 7.0. The customer has a choice of iDrive Controller, touch control, voice control and gesture control.
The BMW Operating System 7.0 announcement was made at the company's Digital Day 2018 event, offering an insight into current product developments, technological concepts, innovations and manufacturing processes.
According to the German car maker, digitalisation is the dominant element in the ongoing transformation of personal mobility.
It paves the way to a new driving experience, expands the possibilities for enhancing safety and comfort out on the road, and opens up new opportunities for efficient yet customer-focused development and manufacture of vehicles.
The company has already defined the key areas that will form the stepping stones to digitalised and emission-free mobility in the future with its corporate strategy.
In the process, it is driving forward the D-ACES themes (Design, Autonomous, Connected, Electrified and Services) with a considerable investment in research and development.
The company has highlighted that With the improved transfer rates and minimised latency of future 5G mobile standard, it will significantly improve technical possibilities.
Such developments can be used to enhance vehicle connectivity by using the full potential of 5G.
The aim is to be able to offer systems and functions based on 5G as soon as it becomes commercially available in series-produced vehicles in several years’ time.
The company is showcasing the benefits of an innovative feature of 5G mobile networks known as network slicing.
This technology involves making parts of the network infrastructure available on demand in a way that suits specific applications and their respective requirements.
The customer has access to a virtual network made up of individual slices, which can be used to update HD navigation maps, for example, enable the direct exchange of data between vehicles and allow videos to be streamed in HD quality.
Artificial intelligence plays a key role in the development of algorithms, which sort through and evaluate large quantities of data and incorporate it into decision-making on how vehicles should behave.
Autonomous driving in which artificial intelligence helps to ensure safe and comfortable mobility for all is another of the company's development goal.
The benefits of systems equipped with artificial intelligence include their boundless capacity for work.
Unlike humans, an intelligent system can maintain constant performance levels.
It doesn’t get tired or distracted, and maintains full concentration even in confusing situations.
Mixed reality describes the combination of real-life prototypes and virtual simulation that can be used to accelerate and optimise vehicle development.
BMW is also harnessing technologies from consumer electronics and computer gaming to develop data glasses that enable users to visualise a growing number of components and vehicle functions realistically. In this way, the impressions created by physical components can be enhanced with digitally generated experiences.
One area in which BMW uses mixed reality is the development of vehicle interiors. Here, computer-generated simulations are combined with an interior model (a mock-up).
This allows an all-encompassing image of the driving experience inside a future series-produced model to be created at an early stage of development.
Another area BMW is working on is better safety on the road. To do this, the data registered by the vehicle sensors is collected anonymously and processed centrally so information indicating hazard situations can be derived from it.
This allows warnings of accident sites or extreme local weather conditions to be relayed specifically to vehicles in the vicinity of those situations.
Warnings of both weather-related hazards, such as fog, black ice, heavy rain and aquaplaning, and broken-down vehicles have been transmitted to BMW vehicles with the requisite connectivity technology since November 2016.
The swift and accurate relaying of information on road conditions and traffic situations also provides an important basis for optimising the operation of automated driving systems.
The company's secure IT back end provides connected vehicles with live information and digital services.
Connected vehicles are now able to receive live information and transmit data to the BMW Group’s permanently available IT backed via a secure mobile connection in a total of 46 markets.
Besides real-time hazard warnings, navigation map updates can also be delivered over the air in this way.
In future, the secure IT back end will provide the platform for other data-based applications.
The company employs technologies from the fields of cloud computing and artificial intelligence to both optimise existing functions and develop new services.
Security and availability are guaranteed thanks to the coordinated interaction between specialised systems controlled by the company.
Specialised systems include the Open Mobility Cloud, which is used for providing personalised services from BMW Connected, and the Location Platform for transmitting hazard warnings in real time.
The company feels that digitalisation is opening up new opportunities on the production side as well.
The additive manufacturing techniques collectively known as 3D printing stand out in particular for their success in delivering fast, flexible and customisable processes.
Classic examples of additive manufacturing applications can be found in areas where custom-made and sometimes highly complex components are needed in small numbers.
This is the case especially in prototype development, vehicle validation and vehicle road testing.
An additively manufactured water pump wheel was fitted in DTM racing cars for the first time in 2010.
Also, the new BMW i8 Roadster features a soft-top cover with an aluminium bracket made using metal powder laser melting - a technique that has never been used before in car manufacturing.
Meanwhile, the new MINI Yours Customised product line enables customers to personalise the design of selected components and then have them produced via 3D printing.
On top of all this, the Additive Manufacturing Center at the BMW Group Research and Innovation Centre (FIZ) in Munich now supplies around 140,000 prototype parts a year to the company’s various development departments.
