Because the 2023 CES (Client Electronics Present), there was some confusion about the way forward for BMW’s iDrive. at CESAt a know-how panel, he spoke about Stephan Durach, Senior Vice President of BMW Related Firm Growth iDrive 8.5 and 9, two new variations of iDrive with totally different consumer interfaces and upgraded performance. Nevertheless, neither system will match each BMW, and there was some confusion as to which fashions would obtain the upgrades. Apparently, little or no. For now.

BMW iDrive 8.5

BMW iDrive 8and of their face iDrive 9 principally the identical factor. They’ll look the identical and have the identical UI. The one caveat: Android-based iDrive 9 will entry the Android App Retailer. Nevertheless, they’ll have some useful variations associated to {hardware}. The decrease iDrive 8.5 will principally solely be used on one mannequin for now; 7 Series. The brand new 7 Sequence at the moment makes use of iDrive 8 however has an upgraded, Linux-based headunit behind it, giving the 7 Sequence extra technological aptitude than another BMW in the marketplace.

Which means that the remainder of BMW’s present automobiles shall be caught with the prevailing iDrive 8 and even iDrive 7, relying on how previous they’re. Not each BMW has switched to iDrive 8, as automobiles just like the X3, 5 Sequence, Z4, X5 and X6 all nonetheless use iDrive 7. Nevertheless, a few of these automobiles will both quickly be up to date to iDrive 8 (the X5 and X6 with a facelift) or be fully changed over the following few years.

Some present iDrive 8 fashions, such because the BMW iX, shall be given the brand new headunit that permits them to run iDrive 8.5. Nevertheless, when altering most automobiles they’ll skip the 8.5 and swap on to iDrive 9. Which brings me to the following part.

BMW iDrive 9

There may be at the moment just one US automobile scheduled to be included in iDrive 9: the BMW X1. It will get just a little complicated as the present X1 nonetheless makes use of the previous Linux-based headunit, so X1 fashions at the moment on the best way won’t be able to be upgraded to iDrive 9. Nevertheless, the brand new X1 will quickly obtain a headunit improve, a more recent Android-based one, and this can enable it to run the all-new iDrive 9.

There may be extra details about each programs, however for now, crucial factor about each new programs is that they are going to be fairly particular for some time. To start with, the 7 Sequence would be the solely BMW with iDrive 8.5 and the X1 would be the solely BMW with iDrive 9. The remaining will keep in iDrive 8 till they’re changed with new fashions or get new headunits.