What's the news?
As if to prove that cars are evolving from transport into tech, BMW will use the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas to debut a concept car featuring Air Touch. Air Touch is the next development of gesture control (which we've already seen on the 7 Series - you can twiddle your finger in mid air to control the stereo volume).
Air Touch uses many more sensors than current gesture controls though, allowing for a wider range of menu inputs and uses the space between the centre console and the rear view mirror. You'll be able to use it to control things like the sat-nav, entertainment and phone systems. There are also sensors in front of the driver, which BMW claims "permits three-dimensional control."
There's also an extra button, one for the passenger and one for the driver (hidden within the rim of the steering wheel near the left thumb position) which acts as a quick confirmation button for the system, which presumably allows you to stop waving your hands around and put them back on the wheel, but still stay in control of what you are doing.
"The intelligent AirTouch menu control reduces the number of steps needed to make a selection" claims BMW. "For example, when activating the phone pad, the system automatically brings up contacts or call lists to the top select level so that a call can be made with just one further action. AirTouch recognises which selection and control steps are required next and displays them in advance. This allows the driver to focus all their concentration on the road ahead or offers additional convenient control options when the vehicle is travelling in highly automated mode."