I’m going to be up front with you. I hate cars that don’t have buttons, but BMW’s new Panoramic iDrive system looks so sleek, intuitive and personal that I might be willing to ditch them altogether.
The first thing I noticed about the Panoramic iDrive system shown here at CES 2025 is the head-up display that projects content on an ultra wide panel that goes from A-pillar to A-pillar across the entire front of the car.
The left side of this display shows you critical info like what mode the car is in and your speed, and I like that it’s above the steering wheel so it’s easy to see. The right side of the display can be populated with all sorts of widgets, and you can personalize what these are with a simple drag and drop.
For example, you could populate the head-up display with the Spotify widget, outside temperature, air quality index or traffic to destination.
But the coolest feature of Panoramic IDrive is the BMW 3D Head-Up Display, which sits directly in your field of vision. This is where you’ll see navigation information, such as upcoming turns, without have to glance over to the central display.
This is not a new feature, as you'll find it on vehicles like the Mercedes-Benz EQS, but it's great to see it coming to BMW vehicles.
In a clever bit of engineering, BMW’s Operating System X is smart enough to light up the right specific controls on the multifunction steering wheel at the right time. A great example is an incoming call, which you answer right from the wheel. And don’t worry — there’s buttons on the steering wheel.
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There’s also a built-in AI voice assistant — just say “Hey, BMW — which can help you do things like navigate to the nearest coffee shop or change the mode of the car. During the demo we saw the car change to Performance mode and the widgets on the display changed to show info like torque, and the colors of the lights got seriously red.
Again, all of this is customizable. It’s kind of like having the same amount of control over your car that you do over your smart TV interface, which is the way it should be.
The best part about all of this is that BMW says that Panoramic iDrive will be introduced in all new BMW models from the end of 2025. And I’ll be happy to take a test drive even if there’s not any buttons.
