BMW shows the future of managing its electric vehicles: the "Heart of Joy" control unit

Have you fallen in love with the BMW Vision Driving Experience shown in these lines? Well, forget about it, because it is not a vehicle that BMW plans to put into production at any point in the future. It is simply a vehicle built specifically to serve as a test bed, and more specifically for the control unit called “Heart of Joy”, which will manage the powertrain and driving dynamics of its Neue Klasse electric vehicles.

Every single one of the new fully electric Neue Klasse models will benefit from BMW’s Heart of Joy control unit, which has been developed entirely in-house by the German brand, which will also mass-produce it. It is set to reach the roads this same year, in step with the manufacturing and launch of the first Neue Klasse model.

Data processing is ten times faster

The BMW Vision Driving Experience is a spectacular rolling laboratory that manages to produce a torque of 18,000 Nm. For this reason, BMW claims that if this control unit can handle such an instantly delivered amount of power, it will be able to cope with the demands of everyday driving with ease. And indeed it does, so easily that for the transmission, braking, charging, recuperation and steering subfunctions, it can process information ten times faster than current systems.

Heart of Joy, together with the BMW Dynamic Performance Control software, reaches a new level of speed and precision, becoming one of the four central control units of the Neue Klasse. For the first time, it combines transmission and driving dynamics functions. This unit is capable of controlling acceleration and braking, vehicle stabilization, steering functions and charge management, all perfectly coordinated, so that every connected actuator responds directly with a delay measured in milliseconds.

The most precise cornering and the smoothest braking process in the world

On winding roads, the combination of Heart of Joy with BMW Dynamic Performance Control gives the vehicle composure and therefore a greater level of safety, allowing it to take corners with astonishing precision and also meaning that fewer corrections are needed. In opposite situations, such as at low speed or when maneuvering, the direct signal transmission and fast information processing ensure more effective driving. Still, it must be acknowledged that it will be more automated and therefore lacking in sensation, except for the instant acceleration that electric vehicles provide.

BMW has achieved a 25% increase in efficiency

Thanks to Heart of Joy, integrated control of transmission, braking and energy recuperation has also been achieved, so that energy can be used more efficiently. In fact, BMW claims that 98% of drivers will not need to make any intervention with the conventional brakes, since the braking power alone combined with energy recuperation is more than sufficient for daily driving, except in sudden braking, where the conventional brakes obviously do come into operation. In this way, efficiency thanks to this control unit is increased by 25%.

As a curiosity, it is worth noting that BMW has installed light color codes on the wheels of the Vision Driving Experience: if they glow green, it means it is accelerating; blue means it is recovering energy; and orange means it is braking with the simulated brakes, creating an even more futuristic look.