NICHOLAS MARONESE BMW 3 Series to come with ‘co-driver’
Tech assistant can be commanded to handle several vehicle features
BMW took the covers off its seventh-generation 3 Series sedan this month in Paris, revealing a car big on “sport” but also crammed with new tech, including an artificial intelligence “character.”
A whole new design language, emphasizing clean, precise lines inside and out, shows up on the wider, longer and lighter “heartbeat-of-the-brand” car revealed at Mondial de l’Automobile 2018.
The iconic kidney grilles get refreshed in a new way, while the Hofmeister kink in the trailing edge of the side rear window gets re-interpreted, too.
Inside, screens have been better grouped together, as have controls, because simplicity is the name of the game for BMW today. A tall centre console helps underscore the driver-centred feel of the cabin.
Underneath the new skin comes a whack of new tech, beginning with the chassis, which sees a new lift-related damper control system keeping the car planted in corners but smooth over rougher roads via continuously variable firmness adjustments.
An M Sport differential, with an electronically controlled locking function, is optional.
The emphasis on sport is contradicted by the lack of a manual transmission option for North America. An eight-speed automatic is the preferred gearbox to back the 255-horsepower 2.0-litre in the 330i and all-wheel-drive 330i xDrive, as well as the 382-horsepower in-line six M340i. Expect a hybrid 330e model in 2020.
Also new in the 3 Series, along with every BMW sold after March 2019, is the company’s new Intelligent Personal Assistant “co-driver,” which pops up at the mention of “Hey, BMW,” and handles several vehicle features in response to natural-language voice commands.
The AI is capable of learning and gets better at its job over time, but can also teach its operator by explaining certain vehicle functions. After you’ve built a relationship with the computer, you can select a name for the thing — “Hey, BMW” is so dehumanizing, after all.
It will also get better, as BMW continuously updates its software via over-the-air upgrades.
Several active safety systems come standard on the new 3 Series sedan, with the rest — basically all you could ask for — optional. On the convenience side, there’s a Reversing Assistant to handle the steering when you back out of a space by mimicking the route you took into it, but in reverse.
The new BMW 3 Series will be built in Munich, as well as the jointventure BMW-Brilliance plant in Shenyang, China, and go on sale in late spring or early summer 2019. Pricing in North America has not been announced.