2007 Navigation System to Include iDrive-like Controller

Nice. I’m one of the ten people that actually likes iDrive.

I-Drive is not bad. If you’re one of the ten that likes it I’m on the same list. People knock it because of what the press says about it. The problem is the press never has time to understand it. This being a simpler version of it I know that people will be fine with it. Everyone just think “Atari” in the back of your minds and you’ll be just fine.

What is l-Drive?

iDrive is quite simple to use. I love when the press write articles criticising it though. They expect to be able to use it immediately when they sit into the car, without training. When you buy a new TV, do you just turn it on, or do you learn about the settings?

It’s just like moving from a Mac to a PC, if you’ve never used iDrive, spend 30 mins with the manual. Personally? I love it.

According to “Car Talk” idrive absolutely sucks:

Lots of auto writers are dancing around this subject. They’re so used to being impressed by BMW engineering, that when BMW truly lays an egg, no one knows quite what to make of it. Well, let us be unwaveringly clear. I-Drive sucks. Here’s what we said about it when we drove the 745i:

There is one reason why you should not buy this car. It’s called iDrive. In an attempt to convince luxury car buyers that they are getting the latest and greatest electronic gizmos for their 77K, some knucklehead at BMW crammed all of the car’s electronic controls together and gave them all one switch. Smart? Duh.

Here’s the car’s fatal flaw: BMW’s “iDrive” system. The intention of iDrive was to combine — and therefore simplify — all the controls, including climate, entertainment, navigation, car information and other systems. The iDrive uses a centrally located, spinning, mouse-like knob to change settings, and a centrally located computer screen in the center of the dashboard to help you navigate through iDrive’s various menus.

Unfortunately, iDrive is a complete disaster. It’s a lot of technology — and yet you gain nothing. We were continually frustrated by the iDrive. It took us 15 minutes just to change the radio station (I know, I know…it was US, you’re saying. But even our more talented lackeys found it confoundingly non-intuitive and frustrating).

And let’s even give BMW the benefit of the doubt. Let’s say you eventually master this system and know how to get to various menus and functions. Here’s the fundamental flaw: you absolutely have to take your eyes off the road to change settings, because the only way to know where you are in the iDrive system is to look at the screen.

Our guess is that someone at BMW thought this would a selling point. That it would be a gee-whiz feature that would differentiate it from the other luxury cars. And remember, this car was probably being designed at the peak of the tech bubble (remember those days of peace, prosperity, and $150 a share iToothpick prices?) Unfortunately, the iDrive is a step backwards from intuitive, simple and well-placed knobs that can be operated almost instinctively.

Now, the question becomes, does BMW dig its heels in and say “you VILL learn to luff it!” and make minor changes, or does it fess up and say “Oy, did we screw up!” and get rid of it? We can only hope someone out there in Bavaria walks into the ergonomics department and fires a bunch of people before they move this disaster into other, heretofore untainted BMW models.

The only good news here is that you don’t have to mess with the iDrive all the time. There are volume controls for the radio on the steering wheel, and a couple of basic climate control knobs are on the dashboard. That’s about the only thing that saved us from driving around in silence in 80 degree heat.

Unfortunately, BMW is refusing to admit it left a floater in the swimming pool. When the new, redesigned 5 Series came out this fall (see “The Ugly”), it also had iDrive. Admittedly, it was a somewhat streamlined version of iDrive, but it still was a complete pain in the keister; more a reason NOT to buy the car than TO buy the car. We hope they’ll come to their senses and make the iDrive for navigation and “occasional” adjustments. And give us good old knobs and buttons for things we use all the time, like the radio.

Rebuttals??

I-drive is not the easiest gizmo to use, neither the new gen. BMWs are the most beautiful cars, but heck, BMW is setting the trends for the next ten years, that is why all cars are going to start looking BMW alike. BTW, have you guys driven an A8? It’s nav system is as complicated as the BMW i-drive. I think you all are so used to plain old school Cadillacs and sorry Lexuses.

It’s not about learning, it’s about interface.

If the interface requires you to look at the screen, than no amount of learning to take your eye off the road will prevent you from taking your eye off the road.

Put a GM style HUD and it would be fine, or have the whole thing audio based and it would be fine. If the voice control works, and there is good audio feedback, than I might get it. But if all I hear is silence or “beep” “beep” “beep” then it’s just going to force me to look at the screen, no matter how much I “learn” it because I need interface and feedback still.

what type of entertainment does iDrive support? Plus I thought they used meters in england.

To Frank and all the other iDrive haters; Frank, how about quoting a CURRENT article regarding iDrive?

Agreed, the first incarnation of iDrive was terrible. And to boot I agreed with the car press without ever really trying the product. However, after having experienced iDrive in my 650Cic, I get it.

In practice it is a very easy and almost intuitive tool. Owen has the correct analogy. You do need to spend 10-15 minutes with the car stopped to set-up the pre-sets like the entertainment options, programming of the navigation system, seat and steering wheel settings, A/C options, car informatin options, bluetooth pairing, etc. And with the comfort access, you need to do the same with each key(okay maybe more like 30 minutes).

However, once you have completed those things, the rest of the time in the car you are using the tool in a manner that makes you wonder how you did things previously. Want to change stations? assuming you use presets for your radio, tap the steering wheel buttons. Want to change the A/C to recirculate? Press the diamond button. Press it again to turn it off (or reach over to the dash and press the button there, just like in the MINI). There are many functions that you just can’t do in a MINI. One example is that I can program the car to vent itself for 30 minutes at 2 different times. This is great here in So Cal for when I am at a client and I know when the meeting will be over. I set the car to end the venting 5 minutes after I expect to be in the car on my way to my next destination.

To repeat the babble from automotive journalists, in particular old babble, is just plain wrong. If you do not have personal experience with it, why comment on it at all?

This is just my informed opinion. YMMD

Garth

I think German automakers are still far too obsessed with electronic gizmos in their cars. Don’t get me wrong, as a ‘computer guy’ I am fascinated by electronics and such but I think the car environment does not yet support the full implementation of all these electronic aids.

Think of it. In despite of our technological advances in the last 50 years, today’s cars still drive pretty much like cars of the 1950′s did. We still don’t have automated highways and in despite of heavy computer integration in current day automobiles, car’s are still not capable to drive themselves, at least not, like “future visionaries” in the ’50′s did envisioned back then.

The problem with i-Drive and other sophisticated on board gizmos is that they do take away from the driver’s attention because their interfaces are not designed to be used without taking your eyes off the road.

Maybe i-Drive it far ahead of its time. May be perhaps in an enviroment where fully automatic highway systems are implemented, where you can relenquish full control of the vehicle to a navigational computer system then, these interfaces may make more sense.

You can set the car in auto cruise on your way to work and kick back and relax, have a cup of java and download e-mails, read the news, etc while the car drives itself to its destination.

But not until our 1950′s driving environment of full driver involvement and undevoted attention is updated and brought in par with our 21st century auto cockpits, devices such as i-drive will be nothing more like gizmos used to market the cars to techies willing to pay top dollar for the latest and greatest in their cars.

Last but not least, the desire of German automakers to bring in overly complex electronic devices into the driving environment has undoubtely distracted them in the quality control dept. This strategy has clearly backfired and the results are clearly shown in the seemingly so-so reliability records of most high end German branded automobiles. Case in point, the low reliability scores of Mercedes Benz products and the teething problems of their “COMMAND” system (MB’s version of i-drive) that continues to bite their touchies to this day.

It is kinda funny that the Germans are cool with all the fiddling we need to do to use iDrive – and all the versions from the other manufacturers – but wont put a real cupholder in the car, since “real drivers” would never consider drinking anything while focusing on the road.

It sounds like the biggest hangup with the IDrive is the interface, not the functionality. Won’t voice recognition help with this?

Is there a mode so that the nav screen displays vehicle status such as gas milage, time to empty etc.

I also recall that there is going to be enhanced iPod interface. Does this mean info on the iPod screen will be displayed on the nav creen when in entertainment mode?

why not just put in a touch-screen navigation system like the ones found on lexuses? i mean…it makes perfect sense. i love japanese cars for the gadgets

While I don’t profess to favor iDrive, I have not used it in person, I’ll reserve my judgement till later.

However, I tend to agree with Frank’s view as far as putting electronic gizmos and complex electronics in cars.

One example of that I would cite is the problem with Window control on some early MINIs, when the windows would roll completely open inexplicably while parked. I suspect this is because that some sort of micro-controller interpretting the controls and their meaning, then according to their programming perform the expected operations. As a result, if some error conditions occur, the result is unpredictable. Why BMW/Mini did not go with a more conventional approach is any body’s guess — perhaps to minimize wiring, or to minimize number of components required , etc., but in any case, while their approach allow you to do more fancy stuff, it also make problems like this more probable. As an electronics engineer myself, I had learned to always go with the tried-and-true approach.

Some might argue that the problem I mention was an old problem, and has long since been fixed, similar to some who have argued that criticisms against i-Drive were from old articles. But the point is, because it is a more complicated system, it is therefore more susceptable to unforeseen problems.

I personally will just have to wait and see. I just got my 06, so I have some time to poke at the MINIs at the dealer to see what I like and don’t like. Real World test will make all the difference. You never know, maybe the iDrive in the MINI will get everything right. Or at least enough of it. *See Cup Holder.

My beef with the iDrive is you’re taking a hand off the steering wheel – add that to the amount of times you reach for the Starbucks, or fiddle with your iMac, or flick your ashes out the window, plus you’re yakkin’ on your bluetoothed headset and scrolling thru your nav screen, too, and hey – where’s your head, driver? Bad enough you can’t switch off the backseater like in an F4, so you’re prolly listening to your better half holding forth about the scenery or passing license plates or what the kids are doing in school today, as well – distractions, distractions. Bad enough every jam-roll and berk in their SUV is doin’ the same, so you’ve gotta do their drivin’ for ‘em half the time – just where does intuitive come into this equation?. Less is more.

           BCNU,
         Rob in Dago

Microsoft said the same thing about windows… now we can’t live without it… except for you MAC’ers :)

it just takes 15-20 minutes and an open and positive attitude. you can also perform eleventy billion things by voice commmand. And it does work very well. The first few times it has to get used to your voice and inflection, but after sometime it works very well.