BMW

BMW

BMW

BMW has just given us a brief teaser ahead of CES next week. The German automaker will be bringing a new concept car that shows off the company's latest thinking when it comes to interior design and the future of the car user interface.

The car, a convertible variant of the extremely clever i8 hybrid sports car, uses an evolution of the gesture control that we first saw this year in the new 7 Series. Called AirTouch, it uses sensors embedded in the dash near the car's main information display that pick up three-dimensional hand movements, allowing the driver to interact with the infotainment system as if it were a touchscreen—without ever leaving their fingerprints on the LCD.

Both driver and front passenger have buttons to activate AirTouch, and BMW says that the new system reduces the number of steps needed to select different functions or options within iDrive (BMW's infotainment system). In part, it does this by preselecting downstream steps as one works through a hierarchy tree, allowing drivers to devote more of their focus and concentration on the task of driving.