LA 2018: BMW iNext Previews An All-Electric Self-Driving SUV Due In 2021

First announced earlier in May, the BMW iNext made its world premiere at yesterday’s opening of the Los Angeles Auto Show.  

A production version of the iNext will go into series production at the company’s Dingolfing plant in 2021.

Details of the iNext however are still kept under wraps. For now, BMW wants to draw the public’s focus on the iNext’s integration of company’s strategic innovation fields - Autonomous driving, Connectivity, Electrification and Services (ACES). BMW says this is the first time that solutions from the Group’s disparate research teams are brought together in a single vehicle.

Highlights include cabin materials that now double as a control button. For example, wood and cloth surfaces - which in this concept, includes acquard cloth upholstery – are reactive to touch and can be linked to control specific functions which would otherwise be hidden away from view. BMW calls this solution ‘Shy Tech.’

The production iNext will eventually be joined by an equally electric i4 sedan (previewed as the i Vision Dynamics concept), although no introduction timeframe has been announced for the latter.