A couple months ago I had the pleasure of traveling to South Carolina to attend a driving course at the BMW performance driving school. My father had recently purchased an M Series car and attending the school with a guest was part of that package. I love driving, so I was thrilled at the opportunity to take some tricked-out BMWs onto the track. What I didn’t expect was a well crafted experience from start to finish. The weekend really summed up how powerful a great experience can be. Here are some of the highlights:

The experience actually started in a BMW showroom when my father went in to learn about the car in the first place. These cars are marketed to driving aficionados who are often interested in the mechanics of how they work. BMW has lead automobile innovation for a long time, and the M Series of cars is the product line that expresses this innovation most. For those interested in these cars there is extensive information about what makes them so remarkable online. What will probably be more engaging to the readers of this post, however, is how BMW uses Microsoft Surface screens in their showrooms:

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BMW presents technical information alongside information about their driving schools where owners have the opportunity to get training by some very talented, and competitive, drivers. You can watch some of those videos here. Together these presentations are compelling, emotionally inspiring, and contagious enough to make most people want to put the pedal to the metal. But, if you’re not interested in the track, BMW has other experiences on tap. For example, you can pick the car up in Germany and take a road trip through Europe before heading home with the car.

One interesting note about the factory in Germany is that it was one of the first places to use audio tours, which later made their way into blockbuster museum exhibitions. It seems that they are very capable of bringing their design thinking outside of the cars themselves. Before leaving for South Carolina, BMW sent me a nice letter of introduction, an itinerary, and a list of what to bring. When we arrived in South Carolina they were waiting for us in BMW SUVs that took us to our hotel. They’d a BMW branded menu at the restaurant (ok that may have gone too far, but it was a tasty meal), shirts and hats were left in our rooms, and cars were provided if we wanted to catch a movie in the evening. When we got up the next morning there was a bus to take us over to the driving center (sadly, not a BMW bus), which was an impressive bit of architecture.

I don’t want to go too deeply into the curriculum of the driving school itself, but I will say that it was well run and a lot of fun. There was a good mix of play and instruction. I would, however, like to highlight what happened when I got home from the school. A couple weeks after the course. I received a DVD in the mail with footage of my training so they could review my performance, and continue to try and build on the skills that I was introduced to. What I find interesting about the videos is that they embed the speedometer an tachometer into the image along with a representation of where you are on the track. Here is a video clip of my 65 year old father winning a race on a short loop course in the rain (he beat me by three stinking tenths of a second).

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While we were at the school I heard a story of how the BMW design approach had been a barrier to user experience at least once. Apparently, BMW’s M Series cars did not have cup holders for a long time because the designers did not believe it was safe, or appropriate, to drink beverages while driving. When they did initially install them, they were apparently of poor quality. Fortunately for my father, it seems they’ve rectified this issue.

Which brings me to the BMW iDrive, which a computer system used to control most secondary vehicle systems in many current BMW cars. iDrive’s user interface consists of a LCD panel mounted in the dashboard and a controller knob mounted on the center console. iDrive allows the driver and front-seat passenger to control such amenities as the climate (air conditioner and heater), the audio system (radio and CD player), the navigation system and communication system. This is another area where the user experience seems to break down a little bit. You can read some of the critical reviews here:

  1. JAMES G. COBB (May 12, 2002). “Menus Behaving Badly“. New York Times. Retrieved on January 18, 2008.
  2. Jasper van Kuijk (December 24, 2007). “More iDrive Reviews; the Evolution of a Bad Idea“. the product usability weblog. Retrieved on January 18, 2008.

Based on my experience on the track I’d say that many of these issues are still present in iDrive. There is a fairly steep learning curve, and the system seems to contradict the safety concerns that made the BMW designers resist cup holders. In other words, it’s hard to use when driving, which could be dangerous. This begs a question about how siloed the design teams are at BMW, and makes me think there is probably an opportunity here for better management of user experience.

As your industry grows, and user experience teams become more embedded in product and service development practices, there will be a greater and greater need to focus on the managemnet side or our practice. Our conference MX: Managing Experience is all about this effort. If you’re having these kinds you issues please check the conference out.

Thanks for reading, and I look forward to your comments.

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5 Comments to “The Ultimate Driving Experience”

  1. Chris B says:

    Hey Ronald, Your old man hit those curves nicely! I love BMW machinery, their brand and experience is unrivaled. Heh the cup holders, yeah none of the BMW’s I’ve owned have had them. The drivers handbook mentions, oddly translated from German, one should stop for a break and enjoy a lovely drink safely by the road side! The iDrive has certainly been the target of many usability concerns. Nice write up.

  2. Looking at the video it looks very, very much like SCCA’s Solo2 (also known as “Autocross”). It’s an unbelievable blast. Especially considering you’ll very seldom top even 50mph (which has taught me that’s plenty fast enough to have a good time). The great thing about autocross is that not only is it very affordable (like $30 per event) and happens at least once a month in the Summer months but you can also use any car. From a Lotus to a Yugo. Since cars are classed it’s much more about the driver than the car. One of the faster drivers in the Indianpolis division drives a stock Hyundai for instance. If you have a friend with something more fun you can even co-drive a car (like your dad’s M Series). There have been SCCA chapters in nearly every large city (and many small ones) since the 70s so it’s even handy to get to – I’d seriously check it out if you enjoyed buzzing around the cones!

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