2024 Acko Drive Awards: BMW Theatre Screen Wins The Tech Innovation TOTM

We’ve sat in plenty of rear seats with little airplane-style screens in front of us, and many of us are now used to carrying a tablet or laptop to keep us entertained on long drives. But all of that is history for the lucky few who ride around in one of BMW’s latest 7-series or i7 luxury sedans equipped with a gargantuan 31.3-inch 8K Theatre Screen. It’s exactly what it sounds like; a cinema-style ultra-wide panel for watching movies on. It slides down from the roof when needed and spans nearly the entire width of the cabin’s interior, giving you a mobile entertainment experience like no other.

The story of how BMW engineers came up with the idea of such a feature for a car, and then went on to design and implement it over the course of five years, shows how important entertainment has become for manufacturers. Passengers demand a certain level of luxury and entertainment experiences truly capture and hold their attention, so carmakers have every incentive to innovate and push boundaries in this area. For the company that once proclaimed “sheer driving pleasure” was its guiding principle, that has now been expanded to make sure passengers are just as wowed and delighted. 

The BMW Theatre Screen can be controlled with either of the smaller touchscreens built into the rear doors. (Image credit: BMW)

Activating the car’s Theatre Mode lowers the screen, dims lighting, and deploys all shade to block out all distractions. The 31.3-inch screen has an 8K resolution and 32:9 aspect ratio. The car is also equipped with an eSIM for 5G connectivity. There’s 128GB of local storage, but the “theatre experience”, as BMW calls it, is largely imagined around streaming services so that your personalised library is always available, and you can pick up where you left off when watching a movie or TV show. Integrated Amazon Fire TV Stick hardware takes care of the streaming functionality, so there’s no convoluted proprietary UI to deal with.

Digital streaming services are now the most common and widely accepted way to access entertainment media, and BMW wanted passengers to feel as though their car is part of their digital universe – the pervasive idea of technology ecosystems that so many tech and auto manufacturers are racing to implement.

Of course a screen this commanding needs to be matched with equally capable speakers. There’s a Bowers & Wilkins Diamond Surround Sound system along with haptic vibrators in the seats to produce “4D audio”. There’s also the matter of controlling the UI – although the Theatre Screen is touch-enabled, mini controller touchscreens in each rear door give passengers a much more convenient way to pull up their favourite content. There’s also much more tech that isn’t immediately obvious to passengers, such as power usage optimisations to make sure the car’s battery isn’t strained, and extra buffering and caching of content to account for patchy 5G connectivity while moving.   

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And even with all these priorities in mind, safety still comes first. No part of the screen’s mechanism is susceptible to damage in case of an accident, and the screen itself is reinforced to prevent it from shattering and causing harm even if the car rolls over. As for comfort, BMW says it had to invest major resources in making sure everything works perfectly, including reworking the 7-series’ air conditioning system to account for changed airflow patterns. Engineers have even made sure that other drivers on the road won’t be distracted by visuals visible through the car’s windows. 

The BMW Theatre Screen and all its associated tech might seem a bit gimmicky, and sure, it’s way over the top even by today’s standards of in-car luxury. However, there’s no doubt BMW has achieved its aim to amaze and delight anyone who experiences it.