It’s no secret that BMW has been hard at work putting the finishing developmental touches on its planned lineup of electric vehicles. Yes, the Bavarian automaker hopes to field some 25 Battery Electric Vehicles and plug-in hybrid electricd vehicles by the year 2025. And one of these is the Vision iNEXT Concept, which embarked on a four-city world tour
Kicking off in Munich, the BMW Vision iNext was flown to New York City. This will be followed by a stop in San Francisco and then to Bejing, China before it heads back to Germany. All this is to give the world an idea of what the future holds for the Ultimate Electric Driving Machine.
While no details were given about range and powertrains, a few things were made clear. For one, this will be a purely electric number. This is seen in the closed off grille that is represented by a fascia that resembles the trademark kidney look that has been a BMW staple.
Another notable facet of the X5-sized offering is that it will boast autonomous driving capabilities. It won’t be fully self-driving but wll feature a Boost Mode (not beast mode) and Ease Mode. The Boost Mode is the one to choose when you wish to drive yourself. The dash will display all pertinent driving data and the steering wheel will be in place.
Switching to Ease Mode makes for a more relaxed vibe with the steering wheel retracted and the front seat headrests folding to allow front and rear occupants to converse more freely. This would be great when stuck in EDSA’s gridlock as the car can take over this tedious chore of weaving thru traffic.
A cool piece of tech is the interactive interior that lets passengers swipe or make gestures on any part of the interior, such as the seats, to call up various vehicle functions. Besides this, any part of the cabin can be used to project images for infotainment and other data rather than on a fixed screen. It’s all part of the fully interactive interior concept.
Expect to see the BMW Vision iNext hit the production floor within the next few years.
