Described as the first BMW model in which the driver is no longer required to take care of the task of driving, the iNext is fitted with a newly designed steering wheel conceived to allow the driver to easily switch between highly automated driving and active driving modes.
It is the second interior detail from the production version of the iNext to be revealed, following official images showing its curved instrument display earlier this year.
Inspired by the steering wheels used in BMW race cars, the new steering wheel uses flattened upper and lower sections. They are designed to make it easier to recognise the steering angle than in a conventional round steering wheel.
“The moment the driver re-takes control of the vehicle, they can detect the steering angle instantly – both visually and by means of touch,” said BMW.
Together with the curved instrument display, the new polygonal-shaped steering wheel forms part of what BMW says will be a “pioneering interior design” for the iNext, which has been confirmed to go into production in 2021 as a “new technological flagship” model for the German car maker.
The iNext is a similar size to the conventionally fuelled BMW X5 and will form an integral part of the brand's electrification strategy.
The SUV’s new platform has been conceived as a multi-purpose architecture that will go on to underpin ICE vehicles, hybrids and pure-electric models from the 3 Series upwards, in line with BMW’s plans to produce all future vehicles on one of two platforms.
It's expected to share its powertrain in some form with the BMW i4, due next year, itself claimed to be capable of up to 373 miles of range. Given the extra space for battery capacity in the iNext's body, higher range variants are expected.
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Leslie Brook
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And to think the Allegro was ridiculed for it's quartic steering wheel, they're popping up everywhere now.
"Pressurised container: May burst if heated"
Overdrive
Leslie Brook wrote:
Allegro's problems ran far deeper than merely its quartic steering wheel.
The Colonel
Bendy Bananas
"polygon-shaped"?!?!?! Urggh! Adding a hyphen and "shaped" doesn't make it the correct use of polygon. It's got curves in it. Polygons don't.
If they want the brain dead, looking up from their apps, to instinctively know what direction the wheels are facing, when they "take back control", there should be a pair of comedy breasts fixed to the bottom edge of the wheel so that way, if they find the comedy breasts are at the top when their gorm makes a slight return, they will know that things have gone, or are about to go, tits up.
Peter Cavellini
Death of the Saloon.....
Yep , looks like the car business wants us all to drive an SUV and derivatives, we’ll be sitting pushing buttons waving our hands or quietly sitting there reading or watching something heck! we might even be talking to each other instead of texting!, but I suppose in there infinite wisdom this new tech will make travel less stressful for some, make travelling a mundane but necessary thing, the question is....who is going to be the first to do away with the steering wheel..?
Peter Cavellini.
Bishop
And the point of a steering wheel that shape is ...?
Answers on a postcard, please.
LouSiThames
Name
The Colonel
iDunno
It does rather sound like the "brand" name of the kind of cables and adaptor one might find for sale in an airport shop or, even, a pound shop.
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