Final November, I strapped into the rear passenger seat of an all-electric, four-door sedan with BMW check driver and 24-hour racer Jens Klingmann behind the wheel. It was a chilly day at BMW’s Efficiency Driving Middle in Greer, SC, and beneath the five-point harnesses, roll cage, and closely camouflaged physique, Klingmann had an surprising co-pilot: a tiny black field referred to as the “Coronary heart of Pleasure.”
It was an odd identify for an attention-grabbing suite of tech options powering my temporary three-lap stint on the 1.7-mile efficiency monitor. The Coronary heart of Pleasure represents an attention-grabbing future for the German model that also desires to be generally known as the “Final Driving Machine” within the electrified future.
The automobile we rode in known as the Imaginative and prescient Driving Expertise (VDX), a one-off constructed particularly for testing this supposedly magic black field, in addition to extra upcoming options for BMW’s Neue Klasse platform. The VDX makes use of followers to suck it all the way down to the monitor for higher traction at pace. These followers are loud contained in the automobile, making it almost unimaginable to listen to rather more than a roar whereas we’re hurtling across the monitor at speeds nearing 90 mph, regardless that the automotive itself is a largely silent EV.
Within the expert fingers of Klingmann, the tires whine as they strategy the restrict of their grip. There’s notably much less BMW brake squeal as that little black field does a majority of the work as we hurtle across the monitor.
The Coronary heart of Pleasure is an ECU that mixes each driving dynamics and powertrain management into one pc. Roughly eight-inches by eight-inches, the field will function the management module for the upcoming Neue Klasse electrified autos that can begin rolling out later this 12 months.
It was developed in-house by BMW engineers, which is exclusive since most producers cobble collectively lots of of off-the-shelf elements and write software program code to make all of them talk seamlessly with each other. That ends in a kind of homogeneity of driving experiences throughout completely different manufacturers since most manufacturers use the identical suppliers. So BMW tasked its engineers with occupied with methods to differentiate its EVs from the competitors by arising with a brand new, single computing system that would energy quite a lot of driving dynamics throughout BMW’s lineup – from SUVs to sports activities automobiles.
“The query is, what does driving pleasure appear to be in an period of electrification?” Christian Thalmeer, BMW’s senior driving dynamics engineer, stated. “It combines the sheer energy and torque of electrical motors, with the power for these motors to sluggish and brake a automobile, and the choice to have multiple energy supply.”
On the monitor, the VDX is a rocketship, and regardless that we’re approaching 90 mph on the straight, Klingmann barely touches the brakes and easily lifts off the accelerator to deliver the automobile to a extra sane pace for the sharp hairpins.
“The query is, what does driving pleasure appear to be in an period of electrification?”
BMW didn’t share all of the specs of the VDX check automobile, moreover its insane 13,269 lb-ft of torque, and 25 % improve in effectivity because of the built-in brake and vitality recuperation. However they did share that the Coronary heart of Pleasure is ten instances quicker than the strung-together ECUs available on the market.
One of many main options that BMW centered on within the growth was braking and stability management. The system can actively use regenerative braking to deliver BMW autos to a full cease with out the motive force ever having to the touch the pedal. The corporate says that that function will result in extra stability on the restrict for the reason that system can brake every particular person wheel to create higher grip leading to recuperation that’s 60 % extra environment friendly.
As a result of a single pc system manages every part from driving dynamics to powertrain output to particular person wheels, there can be much less latency within the automobile response, and also you get much less put on and tear on brakes and tires. Thalmeer stated that the brand new ECU system can shift the ability and deceleration from entrance to again and to every wheel to get the utmost recuperation and stability out of the automobile, an occasion he calls the “pleasure of stopping.”
Coronary heart of Pleasure was developed in simply three brief years and has at the moment been via greater than 7,500 hours of testing, each by the hands of skilled engineers like Thalmeer and race drivers like Klingmann. The purpose, in fact, is to get future BMWs to drive extra like BMWs, and never like, say, Kias, which makes use of the supplier-to-programming mannequin for his or her EVs. The only pc additionally, conveniently, makes over-the-air updates a lot simpler for BMW.
Bringing the event in-house will not be new for BMW, however it’s comparatively distinctive in an trade that incessantly seems to outdoors suppliers for every part from voice recognition to infotainment. ECUs are usually outsourced to different firms like Magna Steyr, for instance.
BMW CTO Frank Weber defined how the automaker’s close to failure to launch the 7-series 25 years in the past gave the corporate the power and confidence to create the brand new Coronary heart of Pleasure. “It was a nightmare,” Weber informed me at CES earlier this 12 months. “We virtually didn’t make the launch of the automotive…As we speak, I can say, possibly this was the perfect factor that occurred to BMW. As a result of it was so tough, we needed to develop extra strong processes for these superior digital applied sciences a lot sooner than the others, after which we simply groomed it over time.”
“We virtually didn’t make the launch of the automotive…As we speak, I can say, possibly this was the perfect factor that occurred to BMW.”
This led the corporate to consider it might deal with the tough process of bringing the ECU creation in-house. “With the ability to work with the controllers is one thing that our driving dynamics folks did already for a very long time, however they did it with suppliers,” Weber stated. “Right here, we had the data, and we developed the algorithms with suppliers… We’ve to personal this, as a result of what we are able to do with this new controller, after we take a look at every part, is simply unbelievable.”
As Weber famous, there’s been an rising push to regionalize every part from emissions necessities to provider sources all over the world. Auto producer provide chains are deeply built-in throughout borders, and globalization like that could be very tough and dear to unwind. Have a look at the unbelievable quantity of harm that President Trump’s proposed 25 % tariffs might have on US automakers alone, with dire estimates that US automakers might shut down inside per week ought to they go into place. As Weber famous, regionalization which is used to place up boundaries between international locations, is one thing that threatens the whole automotive trade. By bringing a part of the manufacturing of what makes a BMW, a BMW, in-house, the corporate can, not less than in some methods, decrease that danger.
If the temporary however thrilling expertise I had within the VDX is any indicator, the brand new Coronary heart of Pleasure, underlines BMW’s “Final Driving Machine,” roots and guarantees a very dynamic, all-electric driving future.
