BMW wins the future with HoloActive Touch controls

When BMW announced last year it would bring some sort of holographic control interface to CES, I was skeptical. Today, I got to use it, and it delivers on BMW's promise and more.

The technology, called HoloActive Touch, creates what looks like a floating graphic over the console. For BMW's demonstration, these graphics typically showed binary buttons, such as on or off. Touching either button with my finger not only controlled features showing up on BMW's Inside Future concept's screen, but also sent a palpable sensation to my finger, a slight vibration that confirmed the touch.

 

Google wants to help you buy a BMW

A new app from BMW and Google lets you digitally customize a car.

Photo by Rainer Häckl, courtesy of Google

You could probably call it tech for the 1 percent: Google and BMW are teaming up to make it easier to shop for that new Beemer you've had your eye on.

The two companies unveiled on Wednesday a new app that helps you digitally customize and virtually walk around a new BMW, so you can feel out the customizations before you buy. The companies unveiled the app during the annual CES tech trade show in Las Vegas.