In this edition of the In-Car HMI UX Evaluation and Benchmarking series, the UX team is testing the BMW X1.

The 2024 BMW X1 is the first BMW model launched with the new iDrive 9 operating system (OS). The new iDrive 9 system is based on Android OS, which is the same for BMW’s previous models with the iDrive 8.5 system. However, SBD found some surprising issues during the evaluation that weren’t major issues with previous BMW’s models in the past.

SBD’s HMI UX Evaluation Report Series provides a comprehensive assessment of the latest systems released globally. Over the course of this year, our team of HMI and UX experts will benchmark vehicles from Europe, the US, China, and Japan to understand who is leading in the space, and who is falling behind. Each report helps provide an indication of what the final customer experience of each vehicle should be. In doing so, the team thoroughly scores and analyses them across several HMI domains.

These include the vehicle’s ADAS, infotainment, navigation, voice recognition, connected feature, and convenience capabilities. Our experts assess the reliability of each domain - testing their repeated usability, evaluating whether their solutions provide the features that customers expect and need, and gauging how easy these features are to learn. Likewise, the potential perceived quality of individual HMI components is measured against its impact on the overall customer experience.