Bernhard Niedermaier, BMW's head of human-machine interaction, is expounding on the automaker's elaborate HMI interface design process. Having stepped off a plane from the U.S. just hours earlier — with no coffee in sight — jet lag is causing my interest to wane.
It's not that Herr Niedermaier's presentation — detailing the intricacies of the design cycle that's brought to the world BMW innovations such as iDrive — isn't interesting, or the lack of sleep and caffeine that's causing my mind to drift. It's what's on the other side of the conference room's floor-to-ceiling windows that's attracting my addled attention.
All Eyes on Pupilometry
Behind the glass, in a cavernous section of the building, is a contraption that looks like an egg on stilts. It's actually BMW's Driving Simulation and Usability Lab. It's where BMW developed the latest generation of iDrive and is working on its new ConnectedDrive platform. It's also where the automaker's pioneering research into "pupilometry" is now taking place. Our small group is promised a tour of the simulator as the highlight of today's visit, and even though it was built five years ago (at a cost BMW won't divulge), we're told we're the first outsiders to get a close-up look at the lab.
