The upcoming 2016 BMW 7 Series will also introduce a new generation of BMW’s iDrive infotainment system.
BMW’s famous iDrive will also be receiving an overhaul, with the addition of both touchscreen and gesture controls. The touchscreen controls will be available as well as physical buttons, so it won’t be fully controlled via touch. Touchscreens aren’t all that new, however, gesture control is. A 3D sensor will be able to detect certain, predefined hand motions, for commonly used controls, such as adjusting volume or answering phone calls.
These predefined hand motions can be set up to control a variety of iDrive or navigation functions by the user. These gesture controls are an optional alternative to standard physical controls and do not replace them. There will also be a symbol prompted on the iDrive display to indicate whether or not gesture controls are available, depending on the situation.
Here is an hands-on video showing some of the capabilities of this new iDrive:
