The BMW Group has taken the automotive world by storm with its latest innovation, HypersonX – a revolutionary sound design program that creates a holistic driving experience for the upcoming all-electric Neue Klasse.
Housed in the BMW Group Sound Design Studio, HypersonX is a bespoke soundtrack that encompasses 43 different sound signals, carefully crafted to evoke emotions and create an immersive experience for the driver and passenger.
- A choir of 43 BMW Group employees sampled for the ‘Welcome’ note, with their voices layered over a custom tone to create a unique sound profile.
- The HypersonX program has two distinct modes: ‘Personal,’ which represents the ‘everyday life soundtrack’ of the Neue Klasse occupant, and ‘Sport,’ which focuses on ‘precision.’
Renzo Vitale, BMW Group’s creative director (sound), explains that HypersonX aims to create a ‘holistic driving and user experience’ that ’emphasizes the emotional interaction between the driver and their vehicle.’ The sound design team has taken a unique approach to crafting the soundtrack, incorporating voices, art, and natural elements to create a rich and varied soundscape.
| Sound Samples | Examples |
| Voices of BMW Group employees | A choir of 43 employees sampled for the ‘Welcome’ note, with their voices layered over a custom tone to create a unique sound profile. |
| Art and Nature | Samples of ‘babbling brook’ and ‘rainforest’ sounds taken from contemporary art and nature. |
| Unorthodox Methods | Consideration of how architecture, reflective light, and even the formation of stones are represented by sound. |
| Stone Formation | A stone formation sounds like ‘a slow, gentle melody, like a song that’s been playing for centuries.’ |
| Tested in a Simulator | The soundscape is tested in a vehicle simulator to ensure the right haptic experience while the vehicle is on the move. |
“Whenever a person will enter a BMW, there will be a ‘salute’ and welcome with sound that is made up of the joy of other humans.” – Renzo Vitale, BMW Group’s creative director (sound)
BMW Group claims that the depth involved with this process would not have been possible without the new, evolved control units – BMW Operating System X – at the heart of the Neue Klasse.
The HypersonX program has two modes: ‘Personal,’ which represents the ‘everyday life soundtrack’ of the Neue Klasse occupant, and ‘Sport,’ which focuses on ‘precision.’ The ‘Personal’ soundscape can be heard at 3m 7s in the video below, while the ‘Sport’ mode can be heard at 3m 23s.
BMW’s sound design team has taken a bold approach to crafting the soundtrack, using 43 different sound signals to create a unique and immersive experience. The team has also incorporated voices, art, and natural elements to add depth and variety to the soundscape.
The ‘Welcome’ note is a particularly notable example of the HypersonX program, featuring a custom tone made from the collective voices of 43 BMW Group employees. This unique sound profile is said to inflect the soundscape with ‘human warmth’ and ‘a dash of empathy.’
The HypersonX program is designed to create a direct emotional connection between the driver and their vehicle, emphasizing the emotional interaction between the driver and the car. The team has taken a unique approach to crafting the soundtrack, incorporating voices, art, and natural elements to create a rich and varied soundscape.
“The idea has been to go to the core of our sonic brand, and understanding what are the elements that really define BMW.” – Renzo Vitale, BMW Group’s creative director (sound)
TopSpeed’s Take
“Moments of joy.” “Precision, warmth and lightness.” “Acoustic ambience.” It all sounds slightly awkward, and, well, naff. And yet, fair play to BMW and its sound design team, as HypersonX really does create a soundtrack we’ve rarely heard from an EV before: the ‘chittering’ welcome note is a particularly sonorous example. Whether or not the Neue Klasse soundscape finally creates “a direct emotional connection” between car and driver, something electric vehicles have struggled with badly in the past, remains to be seen, though.
Still, it is genuinely heartening to see that so much time, effort and creative thought is being put into something as arbitrary as the ‘welcome’ notes of an electric vehicle. Fingers crossed BMW’s sound design team’s “human warmth” will one day break through that psychological programming.
In conclusion, HypersonX is a groundbreaking innovation that has the potential to revolutionize the way we experience driving.
