BMW iDrive Is Dead! Long Live BMW iDrive With Amazon Alexa AI

Where we're going, we don't need buttons

written by Duncan Brady
edited by Steven Ewing
4/29/2026
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What's new: For the first time in a quarter century, there's no longer an iDrive rotary controller as the helm of BMW 7 Series' infotainment system. But at least the car has six(!) different screens and Jeff Bezos' AI, right?
Why it matters: It's yet another example of a manufacturer leaving behind simple, user-friendly controls to solve problems we didn't have by introducing tech we don't need.
Edmunds says: And yet ... it kinda works?

AI. Boundless screen real estate. No buttons. BMW is clearing the whole bingo card of automotive interior design trends with its new flagship 7 Series. The car doesn't even have a central rotary dial as a redundant control scheme for its multimedia system anymore, a feature BMW pioneered on the infamous "Bangle Butt" 7 Series back in 2001.

I've been on the record countless times saying these all-digital, no-physical interiors are simply more distracting, less usable, thinly veiled examples of cost-cutting. (Touch displays are cheap, and it costs less to pay a software engineer to develop digital buttons once than to build physical alternatives thousands of times.) Most of the Edmunds staff agrees. Plus, I loved using the crystal iDrive dial in the pre-refresh 7 Series as my personal $100,000 fidget spinner.

All those usability concerns still hold true with the new 7 Series, yet it might actually work. BMW may have removed some physical controls, but it's introduced a different redundancy as an alternative to touch inputs. One of the big differences for the new 7 Series and BMW's other recent releases is the integration of a large language model (LLM), Amazon's Alexa+. This isn't anything new — Audi and Mercedes-Benz voice assistants use ChatGPT integration. But if it's executed well, this could be an even better option than physical buttons and knobs.

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The personal assistant will be able to control the windows, climate control, seats, phone calls and infotainment, including being able to quickly bring up menus and apps. And with LLM integration, you can give a natural command like, "I wanna go to that taco spot on Hauser and San Vicente" (shoutout Sonoratown), instead of "Navigate to 5610 South San Vicente Blvd., Los Angeles, California."

"You basically don't need to touch anything anymore," Maximilian Huber, the 7 Series' product manager, told me at the car's world premiere in New York. He's got a point. Reaching down to twist a knob to adjust interior temperature is less distracting than using a touchscreen, but if you can tell the car you're cold and it'll raise the temperature a couple of degrees, you don't even have to take your hands off the wheel, let alone your eyes off the road.

Did customers actually want this? When I asked, Huber said BMW didn't make the decision based on data that suggested users weren't using the iDrive controller in the pre-refresh 7 Series, but rather that BMW didn't hear pushback from owners about the lack of an iDrive controller in the BMW X1 that debuted for 2023.

We'll let you know how the system works in the real world when we get behind the wheel of the new 7 Series later this year.

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by Duncan Brady

Duncan Brady has worked in the automotive industry since 2017. In the years, he's written hundreds of reviews, news pieces, comparisons, and buyers guides, all while getting behind the wheel of anything and everything he can. Duncan is Edmunds' primary script writer but has previously been on staff at MotorTrend and contributed to Car and Driver. In his spare time, Duncan is often found camping, trying new recipes, exploring LA's restaurant scene, and hoping his early 2000s Porsches don't break

edited by Steven Ewing

Steven Ewing is Edmunds' director of editorial content. An automotive journalist for more than half of his life, Ewing's been on staff at Winding Road magazine, Autoblog, Motor1.com, CNET, and he was the U.S. correspondent for Top Gear magazine. He's also contributed to publications like Automobile magazine, Car and Driver, The Drive, Jalopnik, Porsche Panorama, and more. Ewing has worked in the automotive industry since 2003. From testing prototype cars in the Arctic Circle to spilling a beer on a Formula 1 driver at the 24 Hours of Le Mans (oops), he's always got an interesting story to tell.

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