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BMW Unveils New iX3 EV With 500-Mile Range, AI-Enabled Software (motortrend.com) 143

Posted by EditorDavid from the driving-machines dept.
BMW unveiled its new iX3 — with nearly 500 miles of rangeand ultra-fast charging. The EV news site Electrek reports: To maximize range, BMW gave it a clean, aerodynamic design with very few lines... The BMW iX3 offers an impressive WLTP range of up to nearly 500 miles (800 km). On the EPA scale, it's expected to deliver around 400 miles of range.

Based on an 800V architecture, the BMW iX3 can deliver charging speeds of up to 400 kW. According to BMW, that means it can add over 230 miles (370 km) in just 10 minutes.
It's also BMW's first EV with bidirectional charging, according to the article.

But MotorTrend calls it "BMW's Biggest Reinvention Since the '60s." The decision to move forward in every aspect — design, architecture, technology, software, and manufacturing — was made five years ago... The new Neue Klasse architecture will start out with EVs only, but aspects of this new vision will be adopted by 40 vehicles — SUVs, sedans, coupes, maybe even a supercar — with an assortment of powertrains by the end of 2027. In other words, Neue Klasse will touch and influence everything BMW does going forward... The design philosophy for the Neue Klasse vehicles is that they should look like they skipped an entire generation.
From BMW's announcement for the iX3: Physical controls are on hand, including for the windscreen wipers, turn signal indicators, exterior mirrors, volume control, gear selector, parking brake, hazard warning lights, rear window heating and defrost function. Other functions have been optimised for use by touch and voice command or via the multifunction steering wheel... [MotorTrends notes "you must use the screen to adjust the air vents."]

The BMW Panoramic Vision projects information across the full width of the windscreen, from A-pillar to A-pillar. The content in the centre and on the front passenger side can be adapted to personal tastes and requirements. Key driving information appears in the driver's field of vision. And above the BMW Panoramic Vision, the BMW 3D Head-Up Display (if specified) can now also show integrated navigation and automated driving displays on the road with spatial depth. The free-cut-design Central Display with matrix backlight technology is located in an ergonomically ideal position next to the steering wheel. On the driver's side, vertically arranged widgets enable fast and direct access to particularly frequently used functions using QuickSelect tech. The new multifunction steering wheel serves as the primary physical control point. Its button panels help the driver and vehicle to work together symbiotically using illuminations, a relief-like surface and haptic feedback.
Some details from MotorTrends: There's an avatar for the intelligent personal assistant, activated by saying, "Hey, BMW." The BMW roundel morphs into a blue circle with big, expressive eyes and eyebrows. It looks like an amiable alien that turns to face the person addressing it, and it's programmed to wink, blush, and more, as well as to not stare too long at anyone. The assistant is quick to respond, using Alexa tech and a male or female voice to provide directions, answer questions, and perform functions.
MotorTrends adds that the iX3 "is BMW's first software-defined vehicle, meaning it can use over-the-air updates to fix problems and add features and functions, keeping it fresh over its lifetime with software that BMW developed itself."

BMW's announcement also notes "the latest systems for automated driving optimise symbiotic human-vehicle interaction..." Whenever the driver wants to accelerate, brake or steer, their inputs merge seamlessly and intuitively with AI-enabled software... The functionality offered by the City Assistant includes traffic light detection, where the car automatically stops and then moves off again.
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BMW Unveils New iX3 EV With 500-Mile Range, AI-Enabled Software More

BMW Unveils New iX3 EV With 500-Mile Range, AI-Enabled Software

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  • What is this bidirectional charging that they are talking about?

    • Re: I thought batteries could only charge, or disc (Score:4, Insightful)

      by ZERO1ZERO ( 948669 ) on Saturday September 06, 2025 @02:56PM (#65643556)
      You can use this car as a charger unit to power other things, such as im guessing : your house, other ev cars, anything else you can plug into it.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by GoRK ( 10018 )

        Yeah how much is it gonna cost? BMW already make you buy a subscription just to get "connected charging" where you can see and control your charge session from your phone. Bet you anything if you want V2L/V2H you will have to be paying. I was a very loyal BMW customer until about 10 years ago. It's a total clown show today.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Sebby ( 238625 )

      What is this bidirectional charging that they are talking about?

      A feature some EVs have that allows you to power other things [cnet.com] (namely, your home) with the car's battery as an alternate power source.

      • ya, i guess. I tried to read the advertisement, it just seems like a clumsy way to say that it can be charged, and used as a power source for other things. Marketing people suck! Bidirectional charging? huh? what?

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Sebby ( 238625 )

          I guess the term encompasses a whole bunch of different functionality (in power flows), and somewhat poorly named I think as well.

        • It's the correct name. When the car is plugged into a charger unit that can put power into the car and take it out it's called bidirectional. You can plug the car in when you get home and the the grid/home/vpp can take power out for a period of time (eg peak times) and when the draw of power is over it can then charge the car battery back up. There is another option called Vehicle to Load, you plug an adapter into the AC socket that has a normal wall socket on the other end to allow you to power things when

        • This isn't marketing people. It's a standard industry term for a charging system that can be draw and deliver power via the plugged in charger. Unlike say cars which have a 110V or 240V outlet in them, or where you plug an adapter into the charging port (Vehicle to Load or V2L), bi-directional chargers mean when a car is connected to a compatible charger it supports V2H and depending on the charger possibly V2G (Home and Grid respectively).

          Bi-directional charging is a more specific term than saying it can b

          • All of that kind of sounds reasonable, but it also sounds like BS. "Bidirectional charging" is BS. It needs to be purged from the language. When you take an Electronics Engineering class with a real Professor who knows how to call BS when they see it, you will understand.
            • You've never heard of a bi-directional parallel port?
              Christ, now I feel really old.
              • I have built and programmed a bi-directional parallel port. I even used an IBM PC parallel port as an A/D converter using an RC circuit and timing things. I don't think that "bidirectional charging" is a proper term. A battery is either charging, or discharging. It is not charging in both directions.

                • I don't think that "bidirectional charging" is a proper term. A battery is either charging, or discharging. It is not charging in both directions.

                  I think the way that term is used is in the sense of the vehicle having bidirectional charging, and not being applied to the battery itself.

            • All of that kind of sounds reasonable, but it also sounds like BS. "Bidirectional charging" is BS. It needs to be purged from the language. When you take an Electronics Engineering class with a real Professor who knows how to call BS when they see it, you will understand.

              I dunno. I have a USB battery bank which has a bi-directional charging port on it, and I can either connect a charger to it to charge the bank, or connect a load to it in the form of, for example, my phone or my Pinecil soldering iron. I can't simultaneously draw current from that port and charge the bank, but the port allows charging the bank or my phone, so it's a bidirectional charging port. The BMW in question is arguably a similar battery bank, but with a large motorized conveyance built into it.

              Analog

              • I don't want to encourage any salesmen, but call it: "bidirectional power transfer".. then.. It is not charging both ways, it is either charging, or discharging. Bidirectional charging is BS.

                • I still say that it depends on the object of "charging". You see the object exclusively as "the" battery in the car. I see the object as "a" battery, whether it be the one in the car, or the one in a device external to the car to which the car's battery supplies charging current.

                  Realistically, I can even nit-pick my own explanation. Neither of the batteries in question actually sees current from the other. The currents on the input and output of the inverter are separate and don't share any electrons in com

                  • " The currents on the input and output of the inverter are separate and don't share any electrons in common". That may be true, but the energy is transferred from one place to another. I am nit picking, but I think it is important for EE's to nitpick. Bidirectional power is different from Bidirectional charging. Words are important. It shapes science, outcomes, and our world.

                    • " The currents on the input and output of the inverter are separate and don't share any electrons in common". That may be true, but the energy is transferred from one place to another. I am nit picking, but I think it is important for EE's to nitpick. Bidirectional power is different from Bidirectional charging. Words are important. It shapes science, outcomes, and our world.

                      Well, as long as you're down with nitpicking, I'll parry with the thought that discharging the car's battery is "negative charging" - not in the sense of polarity, of course, but in the sense of the direction of energy flow. When the car battery is charging an external battery, it's also discharging. So it's 'charging in the opposite direction' in two senses. In my mind, that's bi-directional charging twice over!

                      At this point I'm not trying to convince you of anything, I'm just having fun with the conversat

                • Re: (Score:2)

                  by Sebby ( 238625 )

                  I don't want to encourage any salesmen, but call it: "bidirectional power transfer".. then.. It is not charging both ways, it is either charging, or discharging. Bidirectional charging is BS.

                  I think the way that term is used is in the sense of the vehicle having bidirectional charging, and not being applied to the battery itself.

          • Except I'm not really 'charging' my home. I charge my car in one direction, and I power my home in the other. It's still not a good description of what it's actually doing.
      • I hope it works better than the Apple implementation. If I plug my phone into a power bank to top off the battery the phone charges the power bank instead and I end up with less charge than I started with. You can't turn the "feature" off either.

        • Totally agree that this should be controllable by the user. Until Apple does so, try using a USB-A cable with that power bank - they don't support reverse charging.

          Reading around, it seems to be an issue with some but not all power banks. Perhaps there is a chipset out there that has a quirk.

        • It is in a lot of cars already, the feature is usually controlled by the Charger itself, you set up schedules or thresholds for when you want to use power from the vehicle instead of Grid.

        • My fairphone5 supports that feature. I've used it to charge one phone from another. Not clear how it's controlled, and would be nice if there was an obvious UI, but the order of plugging is what appears to do it. USB-C can detect one end of a cable plugged in, due to cables being chipped. Whoever's plugged in first gives out the charge.

  • Please try to keep up (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Fons_de_spons ( 1311177 ) on Saturday September 06, 2025 @02:55PM (#65643554)
    AI-enabled software??? * looks in awe... drooling... * Awesome!

    Oy, marketing department of BMW, try to keep up. AI is already yesterday!

  • Hey, BMW! (Score:2, Insightful)

    by sound+vision ( 884283 )

    Just what I was waiting for - a car that winks and blushes at me.

    Just a few questions:

    *Do I get to keep the winks after 60 days, or do I have to start paying a subscription fee?
    *If I tire of winks and blushes, can I change its personality? Tesla's offering integrated MechaHitler now.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      It sounds like a knock off of Nio cars, which have had a little avatar thing on the dashboard for years. As well as responding to the usual voice prompts and speaking information to you, it has animated eyes. I think you can turn it off.

  • But what is the monthly fee (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Kazymyr ( 190114 ) on Saturday September 06, 2025 @03:00PM (#65643576) Journal

    for enabling the heated seats? Inquiring minds want to know.

    • for enabling the heated seats? Inquiring minds want to know.

      Inquire harder. BMW ain’t looking at limiting that revenue to heated seats this time around.

      The “AI” in the software, is probably the pricing engine.

  • Form over function (Score:3, Funny)

    by pcaylor ( 648195 ) on Saturday September 06, 2025 @03:13PM (#65643596)

    They lost me with this gem from the Motortrend article

    "Even the cupholders have been rethought, using a triangular shape to hold beverages in place. "

    Triangular cup holders? They have clearly rethought cupholders, but unless I missed the big triangular cups fad, they need to rethink their rethinking.

  • Meanwhile china sells vehicles at a reasonable price that people can afford.

    • Meanwhile china sells vehicles at a reasonable price that people can afford.

      "In Germany, it’s already listed on BMW’s website with prices starting at €68,900 ($81,000). ... In the US, the new BMW iX3 will be available in summer of 2026, starting at around $60,000 with an estimated range of around 400 miles."

      I'm not sure why the US price is so much lower. Is the US version downgraded somehow? Also, is that $60k before or after tariffs? In any case, $60k for a BMW with those specs will be competitive.

      • $60k isn't even competitive with the $40k EVs they allow in the US, much less a $20k EV from China.

        • People shopping 60K BMWs are an entirely different market from people shopping 20K Chinese EVs.

        • $60k isn't even competitive with the $40k EVs they allow in the US

          A luxury car isn't competitive with a cheap American car? Holy shit, what a revelation, we should go tell everyone.

      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        by timeOday ( 582209 )
        What's shocking is how normal $60K is now.

        A Toyota Highlander Hybrid Platinum will cost you about that much.
        How far up the F150 lineup will $60K get you? A Lobo. So about half way.

        • Well, this will have a $60K base price. Almost no one will pay that, since it won't include the options they want.

          Just like the Hyundai Ioniq 5 has a $44K base, or the F150 Lightning has a $55K base. Theoretically you can buy a version of the vehicle for that price, but almost no one wants that version. (same thing with ICE vehicles)

          • I can't say I've ever seen a base model anything on a dealer lot. They always seem to load them down with "extras" to drive the cost up. Even the base model gets packed with extras. Don't even get me started on aggressive sales pitch from the finance guy. I hate dealerships. The car should just have a set price. You know, like just about everything else.

            Heck, even buying a condo was less tedious then dealing with a car dealership.

            • I hate dealerships. The car should just have a set price. You know, like just about everything else.

              Yeah, I'm totally with you. I've been wanting to buy an Ioniq 5 for the past couple months... but the basic unpleasantness of car shopping at a dealership has kept me from pulling the trigger to this point.

              We bought our last (ICE) car from CarMax. They're not perfect, but it was definitely way better than the typical dealer experience. But I don't want a used car this time, so we're stuck going the dealer route.

            • I can't say I've ever seen a base model anything on a dealer lot. They always seem to load them down with "extras" to drive the cost up. Even the base model gets packed with extras. Don't even get me started on aggressive sales pitch from the finance guy. I hate dealerships. The car should just have a set price. You know, like just about everything else.

              Heck, even buying a condo was less tedious then dealing with a car dealership.

              That's why you buy fleet vehicles if you really want the base, nobody actually does though. The last truck I purchased I still had to spring for the A/C and cruise. Once you have had a couple of luxuries, it's hard to do without.

          • Well, this will have a $60K base price. Almost no one will pay that, since it won't include the options they want.

            Just like the Hyundai Ioniq 5 has a $44K base, or the F150 Lightning has a $55K base. Theoretically you can buy a version of the vehicle for that price, but almost no one wants that version. (same thing with ICE vehicles)

            Just curious, when was the last time you bought a new car?

            One of the primary reasons cars got so expensive in the last decade is due to most of those “options” you speak of becoming standard equipment. There are actually valid reasons that “base” price is $60K, armed with electric door locks, windows, and back-up cameras. Not to mention that lower part of the car loaded with $4K worth of mandatory safety “sensors” purposely put into the crash zone of every bumper. Ther

            • Last time I bought a new car was decades ago (and it wasn't the Escort, which I bought third-hand to help my mom)!

              Although, as I mentioned in another post, I actually want to buy a 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5... but so far haven't pulled the trigger, mainly due to the unpleasantness of dealing with car salesman. I've hated the experience every time I've had to go through it.

        • A Toyota Highlander Hybrid Platinum will cost you about that much.

          Platinum sounds excessive. Do they make steel version?

        • What's shocking is how normal $60K is now.

          A Toyota Highlander Hybrid Platinum will cost you about that much. How far up the F150 lineup will $60K get you? A Lobo. So about half way.

          Wait until that 2026 BMW is still sitting on the “new” car lot in 2028. BMW arrogantly will before they realize ALL cars right now are overpriced plastic dogshit with MSRPs still infected with long COVID. The average new car price is over $40K now.

          Fuck ‘em. Let them rot for a while longer. See if they can remember how to haggle and what MSRP used to mean in the auto industry; a price no one would be dumb enough to try and rip people off with. There’s nothing normal about a $60K

      • The German price includes VAT and the American one doesnâ(TM)t? What about other delivery charges?

      • I'm not sure why the US price is so much lower.

        Well for one the Germany price is the Germany price. That includes all on road costs, whereas the USA website has the little extra bonus of "Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) for vehicle as shown does not necessarily represent the dealer's actual sale price and does not include destination & handling fee, tax, title, license, registration and adjusted market value."

        Also tariffs aren't that high for European cars.

    • Give me BYD! Tariffs should possibly protect companies so they can develop and grow, but Tesla had their chance, and we are not getting what we paid for: it is still low quality and expensive. Let in BYD!

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Hodr ( 219920 )

        There have been Chinese cars sold in the US for quite a while, even EVs (Polestar) and because they are not idiots they price them for what the US market is willing to pay, not the Chinese market. So if BYD ever enters the US market under their own brand, expect them to charge US prices.

      • Let in BYD!

        BYD isn't not let in, their CEO has been clear on this, they simply have no intention of investing in the USA as the market there is too uncertain, and they said this in 2024, before tariffs. This is what you get when you play revenge politics where the first thing every party does is roll back the previous party's policies.

        • I had a talk with my boss the other day about 'rolling back the other party's politics'. I think it really hurts America. There is no certainty. Projects that are started are eliminated, creating Billions of dollars in waste. People who work in the jobs, and have experience, lose those jobs at a great cost to everybody. I personally think Trump is the worst example of this, but the MAGAs will disagree. This crap is not doing any American any good. I hope if the next President is a Democrat, that t

          • I hope if the next President is a Democrat, that they give competency tests in order to weed out the MAGAs though.

            Question is will they bring a knife to a gunfight? They are playing by a different set of rules (the ruleset for generally running a country kind of sort of vaguely OK), as opposed to the ruleset of "fuck you". One part of the former is not doing political purges every 4 years, and leaving people with continuity of experience in important institutions. Unfortunately, ruleset #2 dictates that you

      • BYD sucks.

        https://www.news.com.au/techno... [news.com.au]

        • I think you suck. Sorry for the harsh language but my patients gets stretched by people who use one example and generalizes it to everything. I think that is the height of stupidity. For example. FOX news shows a Mexican immigrants face who committed a crime, and generalizes it so that all Mexican immigrants are criminals. That is just stupid. People like you have no grasp of statistics or graphs, but you have one hell of a "gut opinion". My "gut opionion" of you is that you suck!
    • I don't know who wants obsolete-next-year expensive gimmicks. The car should better integrate with your smartphone, the car should not attempt to replace it.

      • I don't know who wants obsolete-next-year expensive gimmicks.

        In a word? Narcissists.

        Let me know if you see any out there in the land of mass narcissism and social media addiction. I know it can be hard to see the forest for the forest on top of the trees in the forest. They’re as rare as sand these days.

    • Looks good on paper, but you wouldn't want to own one.

    • Meanwhile china sells vehicles at a reasonable price that people can afford.

      When a company markets The Ultimate Driving Machine, don’t assume affordability is any more of a priority than reliability is. They’re the Ultimate Leasing Machine, because you’d have to be stupidly rich to want to piss away money on maintaining it after year three.

      Nothing in their reputation has changed that fact in 30 fucking years. I’d stop waiting or assuming it’s coming no matter what anyone else does. Like Jaguar, they’ll carry a badge of arrogance to the busines

  • Just fuck off.

    • Just fuck off.

      Yeah, except every car has AI in it now because Slashdotters have universally said they won't buy a car without Android Auto or CarPlay. You realise this AI is nothing more than the same you get when you say Hey Google or Hey Siri (if the latter ever actually worked) right? It's just a voice assistant.

      • Universally said? Bullshit. There has never been a 100% consensus on anything on this website. I just connect my phone via Bluetooth to my car and use VLC to play mp3s. Zero Android Auto or CarPlay required.

  • Tesla has already dropped a huge amount of sales in Germany. Will this be the last nail in the coffin?

  • Yawn (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Kokuyo ( 549451 )

    Wake me when they build a 2010 style car with electric drivetrain, 60 miles of range and a generator you can flip on when you need it.

    I'm not paying for all that crap mentioned in TFA.

    • Chevy built one. In 2010. It was called the Volt.

      Chrysler builds one. The Pacifica PHEV.

      Heck, even BMW built one - the i3.

  • I dream that one day the middle class and the poor will be able to drive long distances again!

  • https://techcrunch.com/2025/09... [techcrunch.com]

    Those first few drives felt exhilarating, too. The car was beautiful, the ride was smooth, and I felt like we were going places. Nearly two years later, I’m doing something I never thought I’d do: eagerly awaiting the end of a lease on a luxury car because its software is such a disaster that it makes my rusted-out Volvo look like a paragon of reliability.

    Digital key issues have become so widespread that BMW owners have at times shared elaborate multi-step workar

  • Have to pay for heated seats ?

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