INSIDE NEUE KLASSE #01 | TORSTEN MÜLLER: THE HEART OF JOY EXPLAINED

For us, it's really important that you don't feel with tech when you're driving.

It's analogue driving in the digital world.

Inside Neuer Klasse, a video series with people at BMW shaping the future.

Hello and welcome. A very special welcome, because this is our first show of a new series inside Neuer Klasse.

And this is basically your front row seat for the future of driving.

And I'm very excited, because we are going to unlock some groundbreaking innovation

and really get inside the minds of the experts that have created, that have designed,

that have built these beautiful pieces of machinery.

And we're going to have a bit of fun along the way too. We're going to get competitive.

We've got some games to play. I'll be getting involved.

Our experts will be getting involved. You can get involved as well.

And the most important thing, we're going to have lots of fun along this journey.

So get ready, get curious, get inspired and buckle up.

Well, I am absolutely delighted to say that our first episode is about the heart of joy.

What am I talking about? Well, the heart. It's all about the engineering.

It's about what has been built in the core of the car and the joy.

It's the emotion. It's the delight. It's the satisfaction that we get from those driving dynamics.

And I'm delighted to say we have a proper expert here with us.

Chief engineer of BMW Dynamic Performance Control.

We have Torsten Muller in the house. Thank you for joining us. How are you doing, Torsten?

Very good. Thank you for the introduction.

My pleasure. Thank you for coming on our brand new show.

Yeah, it's really nice.

It's beautiful, isn't it? We love our little studio setup here.

I'm going to put you through tests later, but let's ease you in.

First of all, I would like to get to know you a bit better.

When was the last time you had a really good fun drive?

Actually, really, the last time was when I got home from vacation in Italy like two weeks ago.

And we had a traffic jam on the motorway.

So we had to use some back roads over the mountains, which was quite nice.

I really enjoyed it.

My little daughter didn't enjoy it that much, so I had to slow down in the end.

Did her stomach and lunch end up in your car?

Don't want to talk about it.

Oh no! You enjoyed the roads a little bit too much, didn't you?

Yeah.

I think, though, that's why I always think I've got such a tough stomach

from going around windy roads because my dad drove like you did when I was growing up.

And I just had to learn to endure it.

Yeah, so maybe I should continue like that.

I think you should. She'll get used to it. Show me five.

Yeah, we have to talk about it.

Brilliant, brilliant stuff.

Well, thank you so much for coming on.

What I would love to kick off with, what is the heart of joy?

What does that actually mean?

Can you just explain to us the heart of joy?

Well, the heart of joy is one of the four super brains we have in the car.

It's totally new and basically it deals with everything regarding driving.

So when you put your foot down, either on the right or on the left pedal,

or when you steer, when you drive the corner,

it just deals with the mechatronic system, so everything which is run by software

and delivers an output which accelerates, decelerates the car, which steers the car.

And so, yeah, it defines your ride.

And technically there's a lot going on and technically it's completely new.

And yeah, but we are very excited that we can deliver a really good experience coming from it.

So the driving dynamics, so I suppose what's going on behind the scenes under the bonnet,

the technology is completely transformed.

But how is that going to change when you actually get into the car

and feel those driving dynamics?

How will it change to the driver?

Basically, we have three areas.

So one thing is really the driving dynamics.

So when you really push the car in terms of how it handles,

but also regarding safety.

So when you, for instance, when you have emergency braking,

when you have to get around an obstacle or something like that.

So this is better, smoother, more precise.

But we also have two other areas we want to point out.

One thing is the efficiency.

So with the heart of joy, we want to extract most out of electric motors also in terms of deceleration.

So it's recuperation which brings efficiency and for the customer this is range.

So it's a V, it's getting a longer way and he has to charge less regardless of driving or how he drives.

That's also a big aim.

So not only the number on the prospect, but also in the real world.

And the third area is how the comfort of the ride.

So how the car stops, how it continues along.

That's the smoothness of the stopping of low speed precision.

That's the only completely new level and a lot of people will not notice that right in the beginning

because it doesn't get into your face like it's spectacular.

But it's such a cool feature when you, after you drove one of these Neue Klasse vehicles,

when you get back in another car, something's missing.

But these three areas we are pushing and it's going to be really exciting.

There's obviously now so much technology in these cars.

I think some people are almost like they're worried about having to say goodbye

to the mechanical feeling that you would get from older cars.

I think some people are like modern cars.

They're just like computers on wheels.

Why would you want to drive that?

But that's obviously not the case.

What would you say to someone that would say that?

Yeah, actually we had a claim for it.

It's analog driving in the digital world.

And we are all in the development.

We are all a car enthusiast.

So for us, it's really important that you don't feel with tech when you're driving.

In the background, there's a lot going on, but that's nothing for the driver.

When you drive, it's all about precision.

That you have the feeling that you're in control and not the car.

And the car is just a tool.

And it should be sharp.

It should be precise.

It should be doing the same time and time again.

But it's not about, yeah, we don't want to overload the driver

or give the driver the feeling that so much is going on.

And that's special when you drive the car because there's a lot of tech,

but you don't feel it.

It just feels natural.

So you have a pretty awesome job there.

You basically get to A, design what you want a car to feel like

and then I assume you have to test to make sure it has been delivered.

Yeah, of course.

Because in the end, it's like my job in the end is software.

But it's the software which defines the ride.

And so for us, it's also really important that all of us really can drive.

And we are spending a lot of time in the cars in order to evaluate

if what we are doing is good or bad or aspects of it are good or bad.

And that's really important because in the end, it's all about what we can deliver.

And if we just would sit at our desks, then that would not be possible.

So do you do a lot of the test driving?

And do you have a test driver as well that then feeds back to you how they feel?

Like how does that process work?

Basically, we have different teams and we have teams whose job description really is like driving a lot of time.

But we don't have these tests or at least in the car development.

We don't have the drivers who only drive and are not, for instance, adjusting certain trim levels of software or something like that.

So yes, we have areas who drive more than others.

But for us within our team, it's really important that all of us really work with the product and with the prototype vehicles and stuff like that.

That's amazing.

So you were so close to the product that you ended up developing.

Yeah, and it's been a long journey.

Like we started like six years ago.

And of course, the team in the beginning, it was quite small, only like 10 people or 15 people.

And in the beginning, it was just an idea and then it grew.

And of course, like in the company, we also had to make sure to get some decisions.

But we got to these decisions and so the team grow, the product grow, and like two years ago,

and then also the final product or the first final product came and now, yeah, it's all coming together.

And you spent some time here as well during that development process.

Yes, actually, when I drove here, I also, yes.

Oh, actually, when I realized that the shooting is here, I had to think of that like six years ago.

We started in a shelter next to this.

This is an airfield and it has lots of shelters like this.

And yeah, we started where we had a prototype vehicle light the VDX but a predecessor of the VDX.

So it was an overpowered car with lots of power and it was raw.

And we had the question in the beginning, like, if we would have an electric vehicle,

awesomely powerful, how do we control this?

How do we make this power accessible to the driver and how do we also make it controllable?

And so, yeah, it started here.

We were sitting in the shelter.

We had a truck within the shelter.

We had a truck standing in the shelter and, yeah, spent some time here.

Amazing. Bringing it back to where it all first started.

I love that.

Now, let's talk about Shanghai and the vision driving experience because that was, like,

an amazing demonstration to the world at what that car and the heart of joy stands for.

I mean, driving up an incline of what about 70 degrees, it was incredible.

A pretty good showcase to the world of what Heart of Joy is all about.

Actually, I love the fact that this development is, like, also one of the key messages of the

Neue Klasse because, yeah, we are all very proud of what we did there.

And now, like, seeing the communication with the VDX but also, like, we have this octopus

at work, like, seeing all this, that's really cool.

And we are also totally convinced that we have a product and a technology which will really

give us an advantage and which also will make our customers very happy.

So, it's nice to see, yeah.

Yeah, if you haven't seen it, it is on the BMW YouTube channel, so check it out.

Here is a question for you. If you could design a car with any superpower, what would it be?

It would be a self-cleaning car.

That is a good one.

Yes.

Because I like a clean car, but I don't like to clean it myself.

And that includes the interior because you are about to embark.

If you have a young daughter, you are about to embark on the crumb phase.

And they just get crumbs everywhere.

Every single little surface they can find inside your car.

One bread stick gets everywhere.

Yeah, she's just one year old, but thanks for the information.

Yeah, it's really great.

I assume it's getting better.

When they get in all the tiny little holes in your car, see, it's great.

That's a fun weekend job.

Right, okay, well, thank you for explaining everything and what you've been doing today.

Now, are you ready for a game?

Okay, well, if you don't fancy a game, what about a drive?

Sounds good.

What about driving?

One of these.

It's a little small.

Blindfolded.

It doesn't get better.

What could possibly go wrong?

Come on in.

So welcome to the driving challenge.

Now, as you can see, it has taken us an extremely long time

to come up with this very complex track.

We have to get around four cones and get to the jump at the end

with the help of a blindfold.

Really?

Yeah.

So you're wearing the blindfold for the first go,

and hopefully you trust me,

and I'm going to give you some instructions

on how to get this car to the end.

This will never work.

But I'm excited.

That is the confidence we needed, Torsten.

Okay, this will work for sure.

Okay, right, go on then.

Blindfold on.

Lights out, and away we go.

Full throttle.

Jab to the left.

Yep, forward, jab to the right.

Right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right.

No!

We've lost the track.

Pause, reverse, reverse, reverse.

Throttle.

Just go, smash it.

Go!

Forward.

Go fast.

Oh.

That's it?

I think that's it.

We missed the jump, but we did get to the end.

Wait, it said the end, at least.

Yeah.

Nice.

But maybe we can do it better.

Okay.

Come on then.

I'm ready.

Okay.

Yes.

Okay, go.

Just straight.

Accelerate.

Okay.

Go, go, go, go.

Right.

Reverse.

Right.

Right, right, right.

Small right.

Right.

Hold, hold, hold.

I don't trust you.

Standing in front of the jump.

Just accelerate and a little bit to rewrite.

Okay.

Just a little bit more.

Little more.

Okay, we missed it.

So did I come off the track?

Penalties?

Do I get penalties?

I mean, I don't know how we're going to decide

or declare if there's a winner or not,

because it's sort of teamwork.

William, thank you, Torsten.

Great sport.

Just hopefully you never have to be blindfolded

and drive again.

Hopefully not.

Now, Torsten, I am slightly struggling to remember

why we decided to create this game

and relate it to the heart of joy.

Please remind me.

Actually, it's a little bit how the systems worked

before we introduced the heart of joy,

because we had multiple systems

dealing with certain aspects here,

like the aspect of the sensor,

like looking at the thing and deciding what to do.

And then we had a slow communication

and then another one doing the things.

And with the heart of joy,

it would be like if I would do it for myself,

I could see it and I could do it.

And it's no offense,

but maybe it would work better than...

Do you think?

I feel like it definitely works better.

Thank you so much for joining us

for our very first episode of Inside Neue Klasse.

I hope you've learned a thing or two

and had some fun along the way.

If you do have any questions for Torsten,

I know you'll be more than happy to answer them.

Pop them in the comments below.

We also just love to hear from you.

Do you like the show?

Send us more questions

and also spread the word.

Get your friends listening and watching

and join us for our next episode

because it's a good one.

I'm going to tease you with

it is something to do with the Neue Klasse.

Ha!

Who would have guessed? See you then.

We'll see you next time.

BMW Neue Klasse

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