INSIDE NEUE KLASSE #04 | MARCEL OTTMANN & DANIEL FISCHER: SEAMLESS TECHNOLOGY EXPLAINED
The BMW Podcast | Changing Lanes
INSIDE NEUE KLASSE #04 | MARCEL OTTMANN & DANIEL FISCHER: SEAMLESS TECHNOLOGY EXPLAINED
The BMW Podcast | Changing Lanes · Sep 23, 2025
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When Daniel first showed me this idea, removing all the screens while at the same time creating
the largest image that we ever had in the windscreen, I was completely blown away.
Inside Neue Klasse, a video series with people at BMW shaping the future.
Hello and welcome back to Inside Neue Klasse to our fourth and final episode and I'm
delighted to say that for this one we are live at IAA Mobility.
Very excited indeed, particularly because I have a new friend behind me.
Doesn't she look beautiful, the BMW iX3, more on that in a moment because today we are going
to be talking about seamlessness, connectivity and how we interact with our cars and I'm
delighted to say we have two experts along for the ride.
We have Marcel Ottmann who is the head of user interface design systems and alongside
him we have Daniel Fisher who is senior creative technologist.
Welcome guys, before we get into all the details, congratulations, how does it feel?
Your baby is out in the open.
Another one has been born to the world but it's hit the headlines, everyone's talking
about it.
It was a stony road but now it looks perfectly, it's really ready to ship.
You can sleep well tonight, the hard work is done, I mean how do you reflect, you must
be very proud looking at it.
Well honestly I arrived this morning, just this morning and seeing this now in the
public like we obviously saw the car before in closed rooms etc or with camouflage
on it.
Now when you see it here in this beautiful city, in this beautiful location, it just fits.
Everything fits, the exterior, the interior, the UI which makes me most happy actually but
everything comes together in a way that I think this is one of the best projects
that we have done here.
Smiling from ear to ear.
Yeah.
Well done.
Well guys, let's crack on.
Before we really get into all the details, I want to ask you both a very complicated
question.
First of all to you Daniel, what is the favourite app on your phone?
Right now I would say it's chat GPT.
Did you use it to prepare for this interview?
Indeed not but to find the right parking spot I used it.
That's fair enough.
Daniel we talk a lot about seamlessness, particularly when it comes to the
Neue Klasse and how that technology that is in the car gives us that seamless experience.
Can you just explain why it's so important and what we're now seeing in the Neue Klasse
when it comes to seamless technology?
For me seamlessness starts at home.
Our car now provides a good energy management for the whole house so we have a system
called vehicle to home and we can use our photovoltaic solar energy to store
in the car and to the car will give it back when the sun is down.
So I think this is something seamless which is quite worth a notion.
I then coming inside the car having the right tracks of my music listening my favourite
Spotify podcast like seamless coming from home into the car I know exactly it will
start.
This is something which is also for me quite seamless experience and quite normal if you
want if you're used to it now.
There are also lots of interactions that you have with your car that happens before
you get into the car.
Can you give us some examples of what they are?
Yeah preconditioning the car like doing the preheating of the car like electric cars
have so much energy with them so they can just climb out your car on the in freezing
temperature we have in Germany sometimes feel cozy if you come inside coming from
the shopping and it's just nice and warm inside and something like that it's
quite an experience if you have it once you never want to visit.
It is honestly the best thing for me one of my memories of driving to school as
a kid in the winter was despite the freezing temperatures we still had all
the windows open because that you know it was going to steam up in the front and it
was honestly horrendous so the fact that we don't have to do that anymore is such
a luxury it's such a joy.
It never will experience that again.
Oh they're spoiled absolutely spoiled but no it is so nice to just walk into a you
know a warm temperature and drive off in the winter.
Exactly exactly heated steering wheel just perfect.
Yes couldn't without it and then customisation again is as a massive feature when
it comes to the world class but how far does it go with customisation it's
developed so much over the last couple of years that's true like for instance the
panoramic vision is like a perfect stage where you can set up your own
preferences like the driver axis is quite preset because from our point of
view this is like quite stable you have to see right at the glimpse of
second what speed you are at what's the allowed speed but the rest of the stage
you can customize by your own you have your own particles you can get your
better data there you can have your signal strength of your mobile phone
there because many people know if you run into like low signal areas than having
a phone call is like a hassle you be aware of that if you have that in
your line of sight so this is something we do a lot with the terms of
customisation but also setting like the own color setup when you come enter the
car and all that I think is something which comes when we talk about
customization in digital way it basically the car just knows you so
well doesn't it maybe better than my wife yeah I mean 100% the car knows
you better my husband that's for sure and also the joy of the car is it's
a planner unlike my husband so you can plan ahead or the car plans ahead for
you tell me more about that especially if you go route like to a further
distance destination getting like people to electric mobility helping them to
reduce the range annexing a good route planner is like crucial and
therefore we have like a really good system which leads you to the
perfect charging spot on route on your route where you can have your 400
kilowatt of charging power and be there at your destination like I think in the
same time like with the combustion engine car just brilliant brilliant again it
just it takes another level of stress away from your journey it's between
plan you don't have to worry you get in the car and go and you can send it
from your mobile as well the destination and it will already tell
you where to stop and so you can prepare quite good for it and obviously
emotion you know it's so important that we get that joy in emotion when we're
driving a BMW how do you keep that within the car given that we have so much
technology as well our fingertips the emotions that those those twinkles in
the eyes are I think coming with our personal assistance like we have those
small dots which has like smiles at you like if you turn tune up the music it
cheers a little bit so it has some emotions and I think the people will
really like it when it comes to emotionality and over the air updates
will come and bring you more of those so they kind of personality full of
positive energy exactly exactly like it feels completely natural if you
jump in the car and have everything set by your preferences and for me
panoramic vision was just such a game changer in terms of roominess of the
car like we don't build up big walls of this place we want to like have having
a living room experience in the car feeling home yeah I was gonna say those
home comforts there exactly and but whilst also looking beautiful and
interacting so well and if someone hasn't driven a electric BMW before what do you
think they can expect and and again going back to that kind of intelligent
drive and using that seamless integration what can they expect people
they need to feel at home when they enter an electric car so we choose to
not like get rid of a gear selector like others to we want to everybody jump in
the car and feel at home right away like I know where to open the windows I
know where my turn indicators are all those little things which makes you
like connect with the car and in a like historical way more or less yeah but
you don't have to adapt to it I think this is one crucial and then like we said
the range in XE route planning that's crucial and also charging that that is
a really seamless experience you drive to the charging station the car will
open its charging lit for you automatically nice you just plug in
and charge the authentication paying process is all done automatically so it's
just plug in wait a couple of minutes and then off you go another thing to just
remove another element of stress from your life isn't it yeah it is like just one
less thing to think about over to Marcel let's just start from the very
beginning I mean seamlessness not an easy thing to design how do you design
that what's your approach well usually when you interact with the user
interface the user always needs to needs a wish to be fulfilled he has a
certain goal and what we try to use is a method called user journey so we map
each starting point which of which may be many to the goal that the user wants
to achieve and then we go each and every step and identify if there is
friction right because friction is bad for the user flow and then we remove as much
of the friction as possible and that becomes very interesting when you switch
from one touchpoint to another right the user may start in the app and continue
in the vehicle or other way around the user may also switch modalities he
might want to start with a voice interaction and finish with touch
interaction and so this this user journey is not one single path but it's so
many possibilities and all of those need to be ironed out and smoothed over as
good as possible so not an easy task and talk to us about the relationship
between the two of you and the two sides of the business you know that
the creative side the technology side bringing it together and how have you
ensured that that design development when you've got such a huge goal to
achieve and it's kind of it's not the first time that you've been working
together like this but it's the first time where maybe the project has been
such a on such a big scale in such granular detail how do you make sure
you get to the end destination together in the right place well I have to
say one thing first before we for a long time we thought now we have
digitized every instrument in the car everything is on a screen and well now
we just iterate on this on this platform right but years ago we showed a car
it's called the vision next 100 and it had not a single screen in the car
and we realized that this is much more what BMW actually wants to be what we
stand for right we don't want to display a lot of screens to you but we want to
integrate them as well into the product as possible so now with the panoramic
vision display it is an image yes but the user does not see a screen at all
it's fully integrated you just see the light when Daniel first showed me this
idea of removing all the screens while at the same time creating the
largest image that we ever had in the windscreen I was completely blown away
like that was the most revolutionary thing that I ever saw come out of this
R&D department and I knew immediately that this will be like one of the
biggest challenges in my designer career to be able to help make this a good
product so this was the start basically and then we we did a lot of iterative
work together so there would be new hardware new drivers to interpret the
design and then we would come up with new designs and seeing your the design
on a screen and you think yeah I've been doing this for the last 10 years I
know what this looks like on this new technology but you don't because the size
is completely different that viewing distance is completely different and so
basically new hardware new design we would meet we would integrate this into a
prototype we would not only then repeat this process like I don't know
hundreds yeah we did a lot of mock-ups yeah we were not drivable or not
and we did we conducted also user studies a lot and design clinics to make
really sure that in each market this new technology and design will like hit the
right spots and like giving the the customers what they need were there
any points in the journey where you were like we've got to get here and
you're going well we can't get here you sort of reach the end of a journey
but obviously you do find a solution in the end yeah whether we're there a
few roadblocks are obviously yeah so sometimes we have to change the design
which we usually don't but then we realized that this new technology has
certain strengths that we could play towards with the design language and then
on the other hand obviously there are a few requirements that are out of the
question that need to be fulfilled so also the technology was changed during
this iterative process to match the design requirements and this each
department took the possible steps into the direction of like the perfect
fusion of design and technology. Personalization absolutely critical when it
comes to BMW in the Neue Classe but maybe you could explain some of the
things that we might not realize are personalized now because it's hit a
whole new level hasn't it? Well that's actually a difficult question because
almost everything is personalizable right so you would be able to set the your
preferred color of the whole interior we sync the interior light to the user
interface design so you get this holistic experience and this will be
obviously remembered you want your UI to be in a dark mode or in a bright
mode this will be remembered and then comfort features like activation points
for certain functionalities I can for example set an activation point
somewhere where the car automatically lowers the window and it will remember
this activation point but it's not the car itself that remembers this it's
more you're it's safe to your profile right and if you sync your profile
from the cloud to a different IX3 then this car would remember all your
preferences. Amazing so you don't have to reset it jumping from one
to the other. You go from the airport you pick up your rental you log in with
your ID and it just feels like it's your car. The MyBMW app, brilliant
brilliant app but just explain how that is doing things you know before you
even step into the car you know outside of the car how is that working. So with
the OSX update we continue the development of the existing app we
have a user base of 14 million users that's quite significant. Just a few,
15 million. They get to enjoy features like monitoring your charging as Daniel
already said you can preheat or pre-cool the car when you know you're about to
leave. You can access the 360 cameras so you can see what's going on around
your vehicle. You can find your car in case you ever lose it in a large
parking lot something like that. I would never do something like that. Yeah, you would.
And then it would map the best pedestrian route to your vehicle. So all of this
will obviously remain and be furthered in terms of development but for the OSX
update we did something that enables us to do a lot more. Now with OSX the
phone and the car will be synced in real time so all of those functionalities
will be much quicker, much snappier. There is no reloading the data from the
server but it will be instantaneous. So I think this real-time connection
between the car and the app gives us the next step in terms of seamless
experiences. I mean it is honestly brilliant the the location finding of
the car. Countless times I drive the car to the station and then I come
back from work via taxi. So my husband goes to find the car in the morning
it's not there it's at a station somewhere nearby but at least he knows where to find
it you know I'm helping him out. Thank you to the my BMW app. And also let's
talk a little bit about how you bridge the gap between real life and then the
digital world you know give us I mean maybe some sort of real-world examples
of how that connectivity plays out. It's not a new feature right but that
was for very striking when I first experienced it. When you can send your
the key to your car just like you would send the text message to someone else
but then it turns into something so powerful that was amazing and what was
even cooler was the reaction of the person who received the key because
he thought well what are you sending me here and then he slowly realized
that I send him access and allowed him to drive my car just by sending a text
message basically. I swear all of this technology is basically saved by marriage
because there may have been a small chance that I took the car key with you
abroad. So my husband didn't have a good car key. No you can send it back.
Exactly it wasn't a problem. So once again thank you BMW.
It really is it's technology that we we sort of integrate into our
lives so seamlessly that you forget that you have it until it's taken away.
Exactly it's brilliant and driving pleasure. Right. Bringing the joy to
driving is absolutely critical you know a lot of people talk about oh you know
cars today they're like mobile phones with wheels which clearly isn't the
case but I see their point. How can you ensure that we still bring all of
that joy and Freud to the driving experience. Well you know the digital
features and intelligent features that we implement into the car like Daniel
already said no interaction is sometimes the best interaction and they get you
get used to that stuff. Our customers live in a fully digital world they
expect their services to work across different platforms and the car is one
of them. Right. But when the integration is done perfect then as you
said you only realize that all these systems are there to assist you when you
remove them. So again let's share a car. If we had no BMW ID and I would let you
drive my car and then I would somehow find it. Yeah maybe I would get in and
it would not feel like my car because you would have changed the mirrors you
would have changed the steering wheel you would have changed the seats media
sensors maybe different design of the UI etc. And I would have to go back and do
all that manually. Yeah. But I don't right I just approach the car my ID is loaded
automatically everything is being set up even before I enter the car and it
just feels like mine I just open the door and drive off very seamless
integration of those intelligent functions is something that you
forget about and you just drive. Exactly and that's the beauty of it
you don't have to think about it. Thank you so much for joining us for
Inside No Class. It's a big goodbye from us here live at IAA. Thank you for
joining us along for the ride. If you do have any comments or questions you
know what to do put them below and of course we will respond. And it's
just a big thank you and goodbye. See you soon.
About this episode
Exploring the future of automotive technology, Marcel Ottmann and Daniel Fischer discuss the innovative seamlessness of BMW's Neue Klasse at the IAA Mobility event. They delve into how the integration of technology enhances user experience, from vehicle-to-home energy management to personalized driving settings. The conversation highlights the importance of emotional connection in driving, the evolution of user interfaces, and the seamless interaction between the MyBMW app and the vehicle. Listeners will gain insights into how BMW is redefining connectivity and comfort in electric vehicles.
Original notes
What does seamless really mean when it comes to the future of driving?
In this fourth episode of Inside Neue Klasse, Nicki Shields meets BMW experts Marcel Ottmann, Head of User Interface Design Systems, and Daniel Fischer, Senior Creative Technologist, live at the 2025 IAA Mobility in Munich. Together, they explore how design and technology converge in the Neue Klasse to create an effortless, intelligent experience – first previewed in the all-new BMW iX3.
From predictive climate control and Plug & Charge to personalised comfort features in the My BMW App and intuitive mood lighting – in the Neue Klasse, every element works in harmony, so the car adapts to you, not the other way around.
Tune in to discover how BMW is shaping interaction, anticipation, and personalisation into a new era of mobility.
(00:00) Introduction
(02:05) What makes design feel seamless?
(03:37) Anticipation: when the car knows before you do
(09:57) How to create a seamless user journey
(15:19) Personalisation: how the Neue Klasse adapts to you
(16:30) Connecting your digital life with your car
(21:24) Outro
Find out more about our host Nicki Shields
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