BMW i8 Spyder previewed as hi-tech 'i Vision future interaction concept'

BMW has unveiled its ‘i Vision future interaction’ concept which not only previews a likely open-top i8 Spyder, but also acts as a showcase for BMW’s future in-car technologies.

Unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the interior of the car features a huge panoramic screen which wraps across the front of the dash, bringing everything from music, maps and emails into one place.

BMW wants notifications and information on the screen to respond dynamically to the driver depending on what he or she is doing. The concept car is fully autonomous, so information is kept to a minimum while driving, but the entire display is used when the concept drives itself.

The seat design has also been paired up with this philosophy. BMW has tried to build sports seats that have an asymmetric design, allowing the driver to be more comfortable and interact better with the digital displays while the car is in autonomous mode.

The central instrument cluster is now a 3D screen and is paired up with a HD version of BMW’s heads-up display. The main panoramic screen uses a new generation of the ‘Air Touch’ technology seen in the latest generation BMW 7-series. It allows users to interact with a display without actually touching it by using a system of complex motion sensing cameras.

Key to the concept is a cloud-based application called BMW Connected, which is designed to bring things like calendar alerts, meetings, emails and phone calls, and then work out how best a BMW vehicle can help you get them done.

$BMW suggests navigation, parking options, air conditioning and traffic data can all be pre-loaded into a vehicle before a journey is started. This is then all paired up with autonomous driving technology, allowing the driver to take video calls while the car is moving or organise meetings. BMW even wants the car to be able to drive itself and pick the owner up at a later point in time, helping with parking problems in congested cities.

The company revealed absolutely nothing in terms of specs and data for the i Vision concept, instead choosing to focus completely on the in-car technology. Clearly, it’s an i8 Spyder in the making, but we will have to wait to find out exactly how that car will perform.