Final November, I strapped into the rear passenger seat of an all-electric, four-door sedan with BMW take a look at driver and 24-hour racer Jens Klingmann behind the wheel. It was a chilly day at BMW’s Efficiency Driving Heart 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 transient three-lap stint on the 1.7-mile efficiency observe. The Coronary heart of Pleasure represents an attention-grabbing future for the German model that also desires to be often called 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 right down to the observe for higher traction at pace. These followers are loud contained in the automobile, making it practically unattainable to listen to rather more than a roar whereas we’re hurtling across the observe at speeds nearing 90 mph, despite the fact that the automobile 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 observe.
The Coronary heart of Pleasure is an ECU that mixes each driving dynamics and powertrain management into one laptop. Roughly eight-inches by eight-inches, the field will function the management module for the upcoming Neue Klasse electrified automobiles that can begin rolling out later this yr.
It was developed in-house by BMW engineers, which is exclusive since most producers cobble collectively lots of of off-the-shelf parts and write software program code to make all of them talk seamlessly with each other. That ends in a type of homogeneity of driving experiences throughout completely different manufacturers since most manufacturers use the identical suppliers. So BMW tasked its engineers with interested by the best way to differentiate its EVs from the competitors by developing with a brand new, single computing system that might energy quite a lot of driving dynamics throughout BMW’s lineup – from SUVs to sports activities vehicles.
“The query is, what does driving pleasure seem like 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 flexibility for these motors to sluggish and brake a automobile, and the choice to have multiple energy supply.”
On the observe, the VDX is a rocketship, and despite the fact that we’re approaching 90 mph on the straight, Klingmann barely touches the brakes and easily lifts off the accelerator to convey the automobile to a extra sane pace for the sharp hairpins.
“The query is, what does driving pleasure seem like in an period of electrification?”
BMW didn’t share all of the specs of the VDX take a look at automobile, moreover its insane 13,269 lb-ft of torque, and 25 p.c improve in effectivity due to the built-in brake and power recuperation. However they did share that the Coronary heart of Pleasure is ten instances sooner than the strung-together ECUs in the marketplace.
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 convey BMW automobiles to a full cease with out the driving 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 p.c extra environment friendly.
As a result of a single laptop system manages every part from driving dynamics to powertrain output to particular person wheels, there might 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 quick years and has presently been by means of greater than 7,500 hours of testing, each by the hands of skilled engineers like Thalmeer and race drivers like Klingmann. The goal, 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 one laptop 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 ceaselessly appears to be like to outdoors suppliers for every part from voice recognition to infotainment. ECUs are typically outsourced to different corporations 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 flexibility and confidence to create the brand new Coronary heart of Pleasure. “It was a nightmare,” Weber informed me at CES earlier this yr. “We nearly didn’t make the launch of the automobile…In the present day, I can say, possibly this was the very best factor that occurred to BMW. As a result of it was so tough, we needed to develop extra sturdy processes for these superior digital applied sciences a lot sooner than the others, after which we simply groomed it over time.”
“We nearly didn’t make the launch of the automobile…In the present day, I can say, possibly this was the very best factor that occurred to BMW.”
This led the corporate to consider it may deal with the tough job of bringing the ECU creation in-house. “Having the ability to work with the controllers is one thing that our driving dynamics individuals 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 got to personal this, as a result of what we will do with this new controller, after we have a look at every part, is simply unimaginable.”
As Weber famous, there’s been an growing 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 unimaginable quantity of injury that President Trump’s proposed 25 p.c tariffs may have on US automakers alone, with dire estimates that US automakers may shut down inside per week ought to they go into place. As Weber famous, regionalization which is used to place up boundaries between nations, 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, a minimum of in some methods, decrease that danger.
If the transient 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.
