If you get into a car to avoid adding to your screen time, the new 7 Series may not be the right vehicle. Up to four screens can be found throughout the cabin, two of which span nearly the entire width of the interior.
As with the other Neue Klasse cars, the 2027 7 Series runs on BMW’s new Operating System X, which tosses out the old iDrive controller-knob in favor of something BMW calls Panoramic iDrive, which incorporates more touchscreen controls. Operating System X is designed to take over-the-air updates, download additional apps from the BMW ConnectedDrive Store, and learn drivers’ habits to further personalize the user experience over time. It includes the BMW Intelligent Personal Assistant, which incorporates Amazon Alexa technology to respond to conversational controls and access Amazon services when linked to an Amazon account.
Four years of BMW Digital Premium-connected services are also included with the car. This includes data for entertainment features, expanded navigation information, including detailed points of interest and traffic data, as well as a Security Assistant, which records attempted theft and parking-lot collisions and notifies you.
The i7’s navigation system can also plan for charging stops on longer routes, with the ability to select preferred charging networks and a minimum arrival state-of-charge. It also shows details on amenities near a charging station (such as restaurants, playgrounds, and restrooms), the number of chargers at a station, and how many chargers are currently in use. When navigation is set to go to a charger, the i7 starts preconditioning the battery to get it to the optimal temperature for the fastest possible charging stop.
Two rhombus-shaped touchscreens—a 17.9-inch one as the main infotainment unit and a 14.6-inch one to the right for a passenger—dominate the dashboard and handle most of the vehicle’s functions. All of the climate controls, including vent positioning, have now been moved onscreen. The passenger-side screen can access various video streaming apps while remaining shielded from the driver’s view. A feature called AirConsole lets passengers play video games using their smartphones as controllers. An interior camera also monitors the driver and can dim the screens if it detects distracted driving.
Another screen that BMW calls Panoramic Vision curves from A-pillar to A-pillar across the top edge of the dashboard, with the left side serving as the driver’s information display. This isn’t a traditional screen, even though it functions like one, as it’s a curved black surface for key information to be projected onto. The center and right sides of the Panoramic Vision screen can be customized as well. A head-up display is also available to show pertinent data, including navigation directions, directly in the driver’s line of sight.
The steering wheel has a new vertical-spoke design with flattened top and bottom edges to allow for a better view of the Panoramic Vision display. Illuminated touch-sensitive controls with haptic feedback take up most of the horizontal “spoke,” while the usual upholstered spokes are oriented along the vertical axis instead.
The front passenger gets their own infotainment touchscreen as standard equipment in the 7 Series, which is nice to see in light of the large, shiny blank panel Audi uses in trims that lack the passenger-side screen. There’s also an Alcantara-trimmed 15-watt wireless phone charger below the dashboard with a magnet to hold phones in place. Wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay are standard, and data from these services can be displayed in the upper dashboard and head-up displays.