- Virtual Hypersonx Wheel controls EV sounds.
- Drivers of the EV can choose from Calm, Free, Agile and Expressive
- The Vision Neue Klasse X concept previews next year’s iX3.
The design of BMW’s new Vision Neue Klasse X SUV concept gives us some real pointers as to what the production version will look like when it lands next year, both inside and out. And it also drops some major hints about what to expect from the infotainment system on future BMW EVs, and how we might use it to modify the sound of their electric drivetrains.
Rather than give us a single EV soundtrack, or maybe the option of turning that track on and off, BMW has come up with multiple different synthesized soundscapes, each designed to suit a different mood and controlled through a virtual dial the automaker calls the Hypersonx Wheel.
Related: BMW’s Production Neue Klasse EVs To Have Bi-Directional Charging
There are four sounds in total: Calm (which BMW describes as relaxing and calming), Free (light and open), Expressive (powerful and diverse) and Agile (dynamic and precise). The driver – or passenger – uses his finger to drag a flame-shaped cursor across the circle to select one, and seems to be able to blend the characteristics by placing the cursor between different settings.
None sounds like an S85 V10 from a late 2000s M5 in maximum attack mode, unfortunately, and as we understand it, none of them is an amplified version of the real electric motor’s sound, which is the route Dodge took when coming up with a soundtrack for its new Charger Daytona.
But they’re certainly more sophisticated than plenty of other synthesized EV sounds we’ve come across, and more interesting than listening to tire roar and control arm bush squeak, which is all you’re left with in some electric cars that make no noise at all.
The cursor flame changes color as you move it across the screen, but we imagine that the novelty will wear off fast, which is just as well, because that infotainment screen is going to start looking really greasy if you keep sliding your hand across it.
Come to think of it, forget fake sounds and Hypersonx Wheels, maybe automakers like BMW should start channeling their energy into the one bit of infotainment tech we all want but don’t yet have: a self-cleaning screen. But while we’re waiting for that to happen drop a comment below and let us know which of the Vision Neue Klasse X’s noises you think you’d select most often.
