Head-up displays are handy: they project key information onto the windscreen, so the driver doesn't have to look down at the instrument panel all the time. But usually in bite-sized chunks.
What if a head-up display could cover the whole windscreen? That's what's going to happen in BMW's forthcoming Neue Klasse battery electric vehicle (BEV), when it reaches production in 2025. Neue Klasse is essentially a pure-electric next-generation 3-Series, based on a whole new platform and intended to set "new standards in digitalisation, sustainability and design", according to the company.
The new BMW head-up display is called BMW Panoramic Vision. Oliver Zipse, chairman of the Board of Management of BMW, confirmed the new tech during his speech at the 2023 BMW Annual Conference.
The new display, projecting across the entire width of the windscreen, creates an "interaction and information surface" for all occupants.
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Frank Weber, member of the Board for Development at BMW, describes the main advantages of this new head-up display as follows: “The windscreen becomes a single large display with our new BMW Panoramic Vision, opening up completely new possibilities for the design of our vehicles. Whether the driver decides themselves which information they want to display in their own field of vision, or that all occupants can see the entire content.
The projection technology allows visible displays across the entire width of the windscreen for all passengers. BMW Panoramic Vision shows information that is relevant for the driver and passengers with a higher light intensity and contrast onto a dark-coated area at the lower edge of the windscreen.
BMW presented its i Vision Dee concept at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas earlier this year, foreshadowing much of the technology to be used in the Neue Klasse. The study aims to demonstrate the "fusion of reality and the virtual world" by turning the windscreen windows into a projection surface.
BMW says more will be revealed about the Neue Klasse at the IAA Mobility 2023 show in Munich, in September.