You can even talk to it, “Hey BMW, play artist Mott the Hoople.” So you route all those controls through a single, central screen that is itself controlled by a big, fat dial, or by touching points on the screen, or even by scrolling a roller on the steering wheel. The problem was, and is, that modern cars have so many functions to control and parameters to set that you couldn’t possibly make enough buttons to manage each one. You know, with lots of switches and things all over the place. “Otherwise, the cabin would start to look like a Gemini spacecraft.” Twenty years ago, designer Chris Bangle introduced the very first BMW iDrive, the human-machine interface that lets you access all of your BMW’s electronic and infotainment features through one handy medium. The system will appear first on the iX electric crossover, due out in early 2022.

The new iDrive 8 offers more features than you’ll grasp at first, and now includes an interface that stretches from the instrument panel to the center screen.

It’s been 20 years since BMW led the charge into the now ubiquitous world of centrally accessed infotainment systems.

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