BMW has revealed an upcoming release of its iDrive operating system that essentially turns the entire windshield into a 3D heads-up display. The “close-to-production” version of BMW Panoramic Vision showcased at CES 2025 integrates augmented reality to layer navigational directions and driver assistance tips onto the windshield. It also does away with the conventional dashboard “gauge cluster,” projecting digital equivalents onto the windshield that can be customized. The setup is powered by the new BMW Operating System X and will be introduced in all new BMW models from the end of 2025.

“The new system will appear in the upcoming-but-yet-unnamed X-class SUV that BMW is building on the all-electric Neue Klasse platform,” according to The Verge, which says “the new setup is no longer like having a video screen in your car, but rather an added layer of augmented reality that keeps driver and car more connected to the road.”

“High tech meets highly intuitive operation,” BMW AG CTO Frank Weber said in a press release about iDrive. “We are giving one of the world’s best and most comprehensive infotainment systems even greater capability and once again setting the industry benchmark in multimodal interaction.”

To achieve the Panoramic Vision effect, TechCrunch points out that “there isn’t an actual display on the windshield,” but “screens embedded in the dashboard that reflect up onto a slightly treated portion of the glass,” calling the solution “a supercharged version of an idea that we’ve seen in other cars, presented with distinct BMW flare.”

“We felt when we looked at all the digital possibilities, that people are only using a fraction of what a vehicle can theoretically do inside,” Weber told TechCrunch in a CES interview, explaining “BMW wanted to expand what drivers could do with an in-car UI, but that the design team also didn’t want to overwhelm drivers with screens.”

“In addition to creating a full-windshield HUD, BMW also introduced a new rhombus-shaped center infotainment screen,” TechCrunch adds.

The BMW Intelligent Personal Assistant responds to the prompt “Hey BMW” or can be activated by pressing buttons on the multifunction steering wheel. The assistant’s capabilities integrate an LLM initially focused on navigation through natural language.

CES 2025 attendees can experience a beta version of the BMW Intelligent Personal Assistant build in a BMW X3 on display at technology partner Amazon’s booth.