Mysterious Heart of Joy to go into new BMWs

Daftar Isi

BMW has been trialling its enigmatic Heart of Joy driving dynamics computing system in a prototype before it's set to be implemented in new vehicles, and the company claims that the results are "not just a step up, but a whole extra level beyond that".

calls its Neue Klasse.

BMW's revealed it's been trialling the Heart of Joy in a prototype car called the Vision Driving Experience at a test track in the United States.

First have a look inside the new 2026 BMW iX3 and 3 Series! The interior of the i3, based on the Neue Klasse, has been revealed as a 'driver-centric' tech extravaganza aimed at outdoing Tesla and BYD's systems in terms of involvement.

How BMW's Neue Klasse concepts will shape the future of design and powertrains across the company's range - but will the new electric cars be called BMW iX3 and i3?

A new BMW iX sibling and potential iX3 replacement has been previewed with a 'close-to-production' Vision Neue Klasse X electric SUV that will take on the Porsche Macan EV and Tesla Model Y

"The Heart of Joy takes driving pleasure to a whole new level, not just the next one, but the one after that," said Frank Weber, BMW's Development Department Board of Management member.

“On top of that, we're making further gains in efficiency, which means we're getting a better range, as in the future the driver will be braking almost entirely using energy regeneration. This is Efficient Dynamics squared.”

The Heart of Joy sounds pretty mysterious, but according to BMW's engineers, it makes driving in the real world more comfortable and smooth by reducing noise and vibration, and cleverly incorporating controls and functions thanks to super-fast computing.

Energy consumption is also improved. BMW said that energy is recovered through braking and an integrated drivetrain, which results in a 25 per cent increase in efficiency.

The software used in the Heart of Joy was developed by BMW, with processing speeds reportedly being 10 times quicker than its predecessors.

“Working together with the BMW Dynamic Performance Control software, the Heart of Joy calculates all the driving dynamics functions at an incredibly high speed and with greater accuracy,” BMW’s press release states.

“The software has been developed entirely in-house, drawing on over a century of expertise in driving dynamics gained by BMW engineers.”

That's roughly the same amount of torque as you'd find in a top fuel dragster, and it's unlikely to feature in any road car in the near future.

The Vision Driving Experience vehicle, which BMW is keen to stress is for testing software only, won't become a production vehicle. Nonetheless, the Vision Driving Experience vehicle will make its world premiere at the 2025 Shanghai motor show in April.