BMW i Interaction EASE
Beyond Mobility

Passenger freedom is becoming the holy grail of future mobility.

Thanks to their intelligent and driverless nature autonomous vehicles will eventually be able to provide us with a diversity of high-quality services and experiences. All while getting us conveniently, safely and autonomously from A to B. But in spite of all their AI features, autonomous vehicles still have a hard time understanding people.

Designing the technology that will empower a sophisticated machine to think and act on its own is one side of the challenge. Finding a way to keep the interaction between highly intelligent vehicles and human beings, as simple and easy as possible is an even more challenging task.

DW x BMW: i Human-proofing the future of autonomous mobility.

Whether private, autonomous, or on-demand, designing better human experiences has been a recurring theme in our long history of collaborations with the BMW Group. The ambition behind our latest partnership with BMW i was to set the foundation for an autonomous vehicle that can interact and communicate with passengers in a genuinely intuitive way. So, that from the passenger’s perspective, interacting with the vehicle will feel almost as easy and natural as interacting with another person.

Bridging the gap between artificial and natural intelligence.

The BMW i Interaction EASE combines a variety of technologies that enable autonomous vehicles to understand and respond to natural human behavior. Rather than requiring users to learn specific commands, the vehicle’s intelligence system processes the acoustic and visual information received from a variety of sensors and interprets it according to the driving situation, time, location and vehicle signals.

BMW’s Intelligent Personal Assistant, the intelligent force behind this unique experience, integrates a new type of gesture control and gaze detector system that was developed together with the BMW Group. This innovative technology allows users to select the object they want to interact with, simply by fixing their eyes on it and follow up with a spoken word or gesture to initiate the interaction.

BMW i Interaction EASE: Responding to passenger needs, nods, or gestures.

BMW i Interaction EASE has been introduced for the first time at the 2020 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. An abstract exterior design has deliberately been used to avoid creating a link in visitors’ minds between the experience in its interior and any specific exterior form. The installation offers users the choice of three basic modes – Explore, Entertain and Ease. Depending on the passenger’s needs, the whole interior and its functionalities change accordingly.

In Explore mode, the Panorama Head-up Display transforms the whole windshield into an augmented reality interface. Making it possible to interact with the outside world in a completely intuitive way. Thanks to 5G connectivity and the linked cloud, the vehicle knows exactly where it is and can offer the user personalized information on the surrounding buildings, businesses and other objects as and when required.

In Entertain mode, the interior is deliberately sealed off from the outside world. The surfaces at the sides are darkened and the entire windscreen turns into a screen-like display. At the same time, ambient lighting is used to enhance the light and colour of the Panorama Head-up Display, inviting passengers to immerse themselves fully in the entertainment.

In Ease mode, the vehicle is a haven of calm and relaxation. Touching the intelligent material moves the seat into the “zero-gravity” position. As compositions of calming sounds spread through the cabin, ambient lighting bathes the interior in a soothing light, while the Panorama Head-up Display darkens and the surfaces at the sides are made opaque.

BMW i Interaction EASE helps to showcase how vehicles can become smarter than the sum of their AI features. But most importantly, it gives passengers the freedom to move and the freedom to be in control of their traveling time and experience.