BMW Vision iNext’s Progressive Design a Harbinger of the Electric Era

BMW Vision iNext’s Progressive Design a Harbinger of the Electric Era

Published: December 25, 2018 | By: American Luxury Staff

It was last summer when BMW gave the auto industry community a sneak preview of its initial ideas for the next evolutionary phase of the passenger car. BMW called the autonomous vehicle the ‘Vision iNext’, and it offered a window into what auto travel might typically look like—and feel like—toward the end of the next decade.

At the Los Angeles Auto Show this month, the automaker rolled out a working draft of the Vision iNext concept car. The futuristic set of wheels shows team Bimmer giving its collective imagination free reign.

The car is a preview of BMW’s SUV-in-development and is due to be available for sale in 2021; the car will offer autonomous driving and next-phase connectivity, and the lounge-like approach to cabin space that is expected to be desirable when AI takes over operation and passengers have time on their hands to work, relax with a refreshment, or take small meetings.

The Vision iNext’s all-electric powertrain will offer—present specs declare—an expected range of 380 miles. The model’s modes allow owners to choose between ‘Boost’ for self-operation, or ‘Ease’ for autonomous. Behind that exaggerated grille is the sensory apparatus for system interaction when Ease is favored and the machine takes the wheel.

Most interesting is what BMW calls ‘shy tech’; even if you’re tech-shy, you’re bound to be curious about ‘shy tech’, as it gives the tech and autonomous driving systems the implicit suggestion of emotion—that is, humanity. What it means in its present incarnation is AI intuition via ‘Intelligent Beam’, ‘Intelligent Materials’, and ‘Intelligent Personal Assistant’, all working in concert to keep, as the Firesign Theatre’s car salesman once quipped, ‘…your mind in mind.’

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