BMW to Premiere AirTouch Control at CES 2016

After launching Gesture Control in its 7 Series, BMW is mulling the premiere of AirTouch to its infotainment system. This system enables both drivers and passenger to take control of the car’s entertainment, communication and navigation functions with the use of simple gestures.

AirTouch can be operated even without touching the display’s surface, as the sensors present in the system record the hand movements. Located in the area of the instrument dashboard, the sensors facilitate a three-dimensional control, thus enabling a simple hand gesture to activate the surfaces on the panorama display.

What’s more, AirTouch comes with a button on the rim of the steering wheel for users to confirm an action. When an icon gets activated, the menu lights up and it can also be commanded with a single tap. A similar button is installed on the side sill in the door area to enable passengers use one hand to navigate through the menu and the other hand to confirm inputs.

According to BMW, the intelligent AirTouch menu control reduces the number of steps required to make a selection. For instance, when activating the phone pad, the system automatically brings up call lists or contacts to the top select level so that a call can be made with just one further action.

The German automaker concludes that AirTouch identifies which selection and control steps are needed next and displays them in advance.