Remember 2001? The E65 7 Series was a true baptism by fire for Bavarian fans. Chris Bangle’s bustle-back trunk lid was shocking, but the true terror was on the center console: an aluminum puck called iDrive.
It had roughly 700 sub-menus with a knack for stranding you in an AM radio setting when you tried to clear a misted windscreen. Munich took twenty-five painful years to master cockpit ergonomics. Now, as the German brand charges full tilt into its software-defined era, it is playing with the cockpit display once again.
Starting in October 2026, BMW will roll out BMW Operating System X, with a feature that tackles one of the most maddening headaches of modern semi-automated driving.
