MINI will embrace the full circular screen for the first time thanks to OLED technology.
The next generation of MINI electric vehicles are being prepared and BMW Group aim to make a big impression in order to keep the brand draw up in the age of electro-mobility. To achieve that, they’re leaning hard into design cues that are exceptionally difficult to pull off, like circular displays.
In the past, MINI’s infotainment units have featured circular housings that blocked off the corners to create a circle-like effect. This was a simple engineering trick to create the illusion of something quite rare – a circular display.
Unfortunately, it’s quite easy to imitate and objectively speaking, all you’re doing is making the display smaller than it really is for aesthetic reasons.
For the next-generation of MINI products, they’re finally delivering a truly circular display with OLED technology. This is kind of rare, even in consumer electronics, where the most common circular displays are found on Android smartwatches, usually only an inch and a half in diameter.
The MINI OLED display will be 240mm in diameter, nearly 9.5 inches across. This colour-rich display will be known as the ‘MINI Interaction Unit’ and will debut MINI Operating System 9.
MINI Operating System 9 is based on an Android Open Source Project software stack, which is a first for BMW Group. There will be up to eight MINI Experience Modes, which will orchestrate light, user interface designs, drive settings and sounds. MINI are also planning on including a light projector to colour the dashboard with the corresponding light patterns depending on the Experience Mode selected. MINI Operating System 9 will also include the optional digital dog Personal Assistant, which takes voice commands.
An in-house navigation system with charge-optimised route planning and optional Augmented View with 3D buildings will be available on this system. The unit will be 5G-capable, feature the MINI Digital Key Plus function and even have AirConsole gaming, music and video streaming available.
Personally, the software side of things doesn’t seem to be as big a leap to me as the hardware. As mentioned before, a circular OLED display of this size is rare, even in the market. Good to see EVs finally pushing one aspect of technology ahead of consumer electronics.
