A Pure Electric SUV Model from BMW iX3

Author: the chubby boy with twin-turbo

In the rapidly developing Chinese automobile market, intelligence and networking become two of the most important factors for many car models, especially for self-owned brands and new forces that tend to have higher intelligent cockpit performance. Innovative and convenient interactive modes, more user-friendly HMI interactive designs, as well as localization applications and functions that better fit Chinese consumers’ vehicle needs make these smart car models more suitable for the Chinese market and more adapted to Chinese consumers’ usage habits.

For joint venture brands and global brands with rich experience of car-making, significant changes are needed in order to better catch up with the changes of the Chinese market.

Today, we are going to introduce a pure electric SUV model produced in China and sold worldwide by a joint venture brand, the BMW iX3.

In June 2021, BMW pushed the latest iDrive 7.0 infotainment system via OTA, the most obvious upgrade being adding the Tencent Xiaochangjing. From this update, we can see the prototype of the intelligent cockpit that BMW explores and the changes they make in order to comply with the Chinese market.

Start with Hardware

The cabin of BMW iX3 kept the design from the gasoline version BMW X3 and is equipped with a 12.3-inch full LCD instrument and touch central control screen.

The vehicle computer uses the updated MGU 19 from 2019, corresponding to the iDrive 7.0 infotainment system. On the BMW iX and i4 models, the vehicle computer is updated to MGU 21, and the corresponding infotainment system is iDrive 8.0.

Both screens in the cabin have a good display effect and are treated with matte anti-glare processing. While driving in daylight, although some fuzzy reflections can be seen, it won’t be like “looking in a mirror” and will not affect the driver’s ability to obtain information from the instrument and the central control.

Above the LCD instrument, there is an “external” DMS infrared camera mainly used to assist in driving-related functions.

Unlike many new products, the BMW iX3 still retains a large number of physical buttons, including the iDrive controller that has been in use until now. Even in the BMW iX and i4 that are equipped with iDrive 8.0, BMW has not abandoned the use of iDrive controllers.

Among the three brands of BBA, they have all set up knobs or touchpads in the central console area, but with the passage of time, except for BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi have started to welcome the arrival of touchscreen in their new car models in the past two years.

As for the experience of using iDrive controller, let me first give my opinion.

In comparison to touchscreens, physical buttons and knobs are more in line with the “blind operation” setting in driving scenes. They can greatly improve the accuracy of driver interaction in driving scenarios and reduce the time driver’s eyes are off the road during operation. However, with the continuous improvement of voice assistant capabilities nowadays, the presence of physical buttons is also gradually weakening.

Of course, the premise here is to have a good and convenient voice assistant.

The operation of the BMW iDrive controller includes four-direction lever, spin, press, and handwriting input. The input methods in the car system also include handwriting input, voice input, and rotary spelling. The design of rotary spelling is significantly different from the 26-key keyboard input currently used by most new forces.

In the parked state, 26-key keyboard can be more convenient because more and more people are used to the 26-key keyboard on mobile devices and peripherals.

But during driving, the rotary input and handwriting input of the iDrive controller are safer and more convenient.

During a week of experience, whether it’s touchscreen or iDrive controller operation, the overall smoothness of the car system was very high, without any lag, delay, including page sliding, deep-level entry and exit, opening and closing of applications.

However, in terms of application usage experience, including built-in apps like QQ Music and Tencent Xiaochangjing, occasional unstable network connections and long loading times for images, and slow loading of app features did occur in the same environment.## Map Navigation is All About Details

The native navigation of BMW iDrive 7.0 is powered by Here Technologies. Here are a few features worth mentioning:

1. Even at a high zoom level, it can still display many icons of points of interest and traffic information, including charging stations, road constructions, traffic accidents, and traffic controls.

2. You can view real-time traffic information within a 5 km radius.

3. Although it does not provide as many route guidance preferences as Amap and Baidu Maps, it still offers three options: fastest, most efficient, and avoid toll roads.

4. The map navigation experience of iDrive is functional and not bad. For example, it will display a rendered real-world map before the exit, show traffic sign information on the central control screen, and synchronize road guidance and real-world maps in real-time to the Heads-Up Display (HUD).

In summary, compared with mainstream third-party map vendors, such as Amap and Baidu Maps, the HMI design of this map navigation does feel a bit old school, much like the external navigation tablets we used in the early 2000s.

## Talking about Lightweight Applications

In fact, for the iDrive 7.0 system of BMW iX3, I think it has a “flavor” clearly derived from traditional luxury brands. It is relatively conservative in terms of interaction design and functional application, and has not made radical innovations. But in many details, it is able to provide users with meticulous human care, and also make some localized treatments for Chinese consumers.

BMW iX3’s iDrive 7.0 infotainment system built-in QQ Music and Himalaya, but BMW did not treat these two online audio applications as independent apps, instead, it integrates them with the multimedia system of the infotainment system. It does not appear abrupt, and can also use all the functions such as recommended, classified, searched, and collected in the application.

In the recommended list of QQ Music, BMW has also customized the “BMW Selection Exclusive” playlist for users.

Speaking of application, we have to mention the Tencent Mini Program in the iDrive 7.0 infotainment system.

Tencent Mini Program can be simply understood as the “mini program” we commonly use on mobile devices. It is a kind of lightweight application that can greatly reduce the storage space and system memory occupied by applications, and can also expand a wealth of car-use scenarios. Nowadays, more and more new power models and products started to carry lightweight applications, such as XPeng P7, Mercedes-Benz S-Class, and so on, which we have reviewed in the “Smart Cockpit Intelligence Bureau” column.

At present, the Tencent Mini Program in the BMW iX3 carries more than 20 small scenes, including life, travel, online audio, games, and learning. After logging in by scanning the QR code through WeChat and obtaining permissions, all small programs can be used without logging in and interact with WeChat account information.

The most impressive thing about Tencent Small Scenes is the completeness of its functions. For example, taking the lifestyle small scenes as an example, from opening to searching to booking or payment, everything can be completed without issues.

To give an example, if readers have been following the “Intelligent Cockpit Intelligence Bureau” column, they should have some impression of the Huawei QuickApp carried by the Mercedes-Benz S Class. “Ctrip Travel” is loaded in the quick applications of both the BMW iX3 and the Small Scenes, but the user experience is quite different.

On the BMW iX3, Ctrip Travel can complete the entire process from hotel inquiry to room selection to online booking. However, in the S Class, Ctrip Travel will prompt “Booking is not supported temporarily” for all hotel rooms, which means that only the part of querying can be done.

Every small scene application in Tencent Small Scenes can be opened by voice assistant, and some of them also support direct use by voice assistant. In terms of ease of use, it is much more convenient than the lightweight applications that are not connected with voice assistants.

However, there is a small drawback to Tencent Small Scenes here. Tencent Small Scenes provides “Discounted Fuel Refills” and users can also quickly query nearby gas station information in Tencent Car Union on the WeChat app, but as an electric car, the obvious user requirement is charging instead.

With the acceleration of the development of electric vehicles today, the number of electric vehicle users is also constantly increasing. A complete smart car networking supplier should not only continuously improve the user experience of fuel vehicle users, but also consider the needs of electric vehicle users.

After talking about Tencent Small Scenes, let’s take a look at other native applications of BMW iDrive 7.0:

“Regarding mobile phone mapping, BMW, as the first automaker to carry wireless Apple CarPlay, has also loaded Baidu Car Life in the system, making it possible for Android users to choose phone mapping when driving BMW cars.”

In addition, BMW iDrive 7.0 is also equipped with smart parking services provided by ETCP, restaurant reservations that can be controlled by voice assistants, and intelligent reminders.## Let’s talk about voice assistant

In my daily experience with cabin models, I have always regarded voice assistants as an important feature. As I mentioned earlier, voice is a more convenient and safer way of interaction that can replace physical buttons and touch screens.

However, when it comes to the BMW iX3, I have mixed feelings compared to the cabin voice products of most autonomous brands and new forces.

First, the advantages: BMW iDrive 7.0 voice assistant can not only perform basic operations such as navigation, air conditioning, and multimedia, but also integrate with most applications, including controlling Tencent’s small scenes, and offering voice input when characters need to be typed. You can even wake up the voice assistant with “Hey BMW” and customize the wake-up word.

The overall voice recognition rate is also very high, and it has access to third-party voice supplier “Tmall Genie”.

You may feel that the performance is still good when you hear me talk about it, but in some scenarios, the recognition and processing of the voice assistant may appear somewhat “rigid”, such as:

When I said “I want to listen to Jay Chou’s ‘Nunchucks'”, the voice assistant understood that I wanted to listen to a song and would tell me, “What song do you want to hear? You can say the title, singer, album, etc.”

At this point, no matter if I say “Jay Chou”, “Nunchucks”, or “Jay Chou’s ‘Nunchucks'”, the voice assistant will continue to ask “What song do you want to hear? You can say the title, singer, album, etc.”, entering a dead loop…

Of course, this is just one scenario I encountered in my experience, which also proves that BMW still has room for improvement in the capabilities of its voice assistant.

Finally

I remember mentioning in a previous article that for global car companies, it is difficult to develop unique products for the Chinese market.

Although the BMW iX3 is a vehicle produced in China, it is still a product sold globally, and the cabin cannot be vastly modified, nor can the infotainment system release a separate version. However, BMW has at least been able to better adapt to the Chinese usage habits from the aspects of some functional applications and the cabin experience.After the BMW iX3, the upcoming new models will be equipped with the 8th generation of iDrive system. Currently, we can see BMW’s efforts on intelligence, networking and localization in iDrive 7.0. Although there is still some gap in user experience and functions compared with new forces, BMW’s direction is more conservative and “steady progress”.

We will definitely continue to experience the car models equipped with BMW iDrive 8.0, and see if BMW has made greater improvements in the field of intelligent cockpit.

This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.