BMW’s infotainment display to debut around 2025, turns the car’s windshield into a head up display.
BMW is betting on this technology rather than the superwide glass displays adopted by some of its competitors, including Cadillac and Mercedes-Benz. As reported earlier, BMW believes that overlarge screens seen in some cars will be gone in 10 years because they are too distracting.
Instead the company’s new head up display covers the full length of the lower windshield so it can be useful to both driver and front passenger. Called Panoramic Vision, it is slated for BMW’s Neue Klasse electric vehicles. The head up display is made by Bosch, reports Automotive News. It uses a black strip of screen along the bottom of the dashboard that projects on to the windshield to create the imagery.
Neue Klasse vehicles also get a more traditional OLED screen sitting on top of the dashboard. Users can “flick” info from the hard screen to the Panoramic head up display, according to Automotive News which was shown the system concept by BMW in Munich, as seen in this video.
The passenger, of course, views their side of the head-up display, and may see music information and possibly stream video and view content such as YouTube.
There’s also a second 3D head up display just for the driver (expected to be optional) that projects about 10 meters out on the road. It shows information such as navigation and assisted driving data.
A recent concept Neue Klass EV included windows with a thin strip of E Ink display (similar to that of an eReader). When you approach the car, the strip lights up and becomes a touch controlled door handle, said Car and Driver.
By contrast Cadillac is going all in on the superwide screen. It just unveiled a 33-inch 9K touchscreen for its 2025 CT5 luxury sedan. Cadillac teamed with Google so that users get Google Assistant and many Google apps including Maps, live traffic, music and more as well as the ability shop for more apps on Google Play. See more at Engadget.
Sources: BMW, Automotive News, Electrek, Car and Driver
