BMW held a collection of technical periods on Neue Klasse and used the iX3 to elucidate how the brand new management system works. More often than not was spent on braking logic, torque circulation, and the way the automobile manages vitality and grip. It was a dense presentation, however when you piece it collectively, you see how completely different the underlying decision-making is in comparison with present fashions.
BMW Driving Dynamics Historical past
The primary half was principally historical past. BMW defined how, for many years, driving dynamics techniques ran independently — ABS, stability management, traction administration — every doing its personal job with solely occasional communication between them. Later fashions linked these techniques extra tightly, however they nonetheless made selections individually. With Neue Klasse, BMW has folded every part right into a single controller referred to as Coronary heart of Pleasure, which handles propulsion, braking, regeneration, torque distribution and slip management in a single place. No hand-offs. No precedence fights. Only one decision-maker.
The Coronary heart of Pleasure – How It Works
The simplest strategy to perceive it’s by means of the cornering instance we have been proven. Within the simulation, the automobile approaches a flip and slows utilizing rear-motor recuperation relatively than friction braking. That retains the entrance finish from loading early and lets the steering work naturally. Because the automobile turns in, the controller displays yaw and shifts recuperation ahead if wanted, not as a correction, however as a approach of settling the automobile mid-corner. If the driving force requires extra slowdown than regen can present, the friction brakes add quietly to the trouble — you don’t really feel a change; you simply preserve turning.
The second demonstration repeated the situation, however on a lower-grip winter floor. The motions have been the identical — rear regen first, then entrance bias, then a managed mix of friction the place vital. When the automobile straightened, torque went again to the rear and the maneuver completed cleanly. There was no second the place the car needed to be “saved.” It merely by no means reached a degree the place saving was wanted. One of many engineers made a degree that caught with me: most drivers would assume they dealt with the transfer nicely themselves, when in actuality the automobile did many of the work within the background.
Braking Regen On Steroids
Braking habits works alongside comparable logic. Regen stays lively deeper right into a cease than in most EVs, even throughout ABS occasions. It solely offers strategy to friction when the motors max out their restoration capability, which BMW positioned someplace round three-tenths of a g relying on temperature and tire situation. If the battery is absolutely charged or too chilly to simply accept vitality, friction steps in earlier. In any other case, the system continues to get well vitality as a substitute of abandoning regeneration on the first signal of elevated braking demand.
For this reason the automobile stops easily. There’s no noticeable handover at low velocity, no bump or shift as the ultimate few kilometers per hour bleed off. In flat situations, regen carries the automobile to zero, with friction solely holding the car as soon as stationary or on an incline. BMW stated the best strategy to discover it’s to shut your eyes — most individuals can’t inform when the automobile involves relaxation.
All of this depends on a chassis that behaves predictably, and the engineers didn’t fake in any other case. The battery sits low and centrally, contributing to structural stiffness relatively than appearing like a block of mass. Unsprung weight is managed by means of wheel sizing, the wheelbase is lengthy sufficient for high-speed stability, and the rear suspension makes use of a uniball camber hyperlink for extra direct lateral response. These selections aren’t headline-grabbers, however they kind the bottom that permits the software program to work cleanly. If the platform reacted inconsistently, no quantity of management logic would conceal it.
It’s additionally price noting that Neue Klasse received’t create one uniform driving really feel. Different Neue Klasse fashions might be tuned in a different way from the iX3. The purpose isn’t to standardize habits. It’s to present BMW a management system that may assist completely different personalities with out rewriting the muse every time. We’ll study extra about that in Spring 2026.
Extra Supercomputers
A second ECU handles driver-assistance and setting interpretation individually from the dynamics controller. One mind strikes the automobile; the opposite understands what’s occurring round it. They run in parallel, lowering latency and permitting selections to be made shortly with out a number of modules negotiating priorities. BMW didn’t dwell on this portion, however the structure suggests they’re constructing towards extra succesful assisted-driving habits with out restructuring how movement is managed.
By the top of it, the story wasn’t how a lot energy the iX3 makes or how shortly it expenses. It was the best way the automobile decides what to do with traction, braking and torque earlier than anybody has to react. In the long run, you received’t discover the code behind it. You’ll simply discover that the automobile feels settled and the way enjoyable it may be, even on the monitor.
