BMW unveiled an up to date model of its color-changing automotive expertise on the Shopper Electronics Present in Las Vegas, increasing the idea from black and white to a full colour palette.
The German automaker showcased the expertise as a part of its newest idea automobile, the BMW i Imaginative and prescient Dee, which is on show at CES 2023.
Like its iX Stream idea final yr, the i Imaginative and prescient Dee options an exterior made out of an e-ink movie, just like the fabric used for a ebook reader.
However the place the iX Stream may solely change between black and white, the i Imaginative and prescient Dee has as much as 32 colours and its design permits for absolutely customized, digitally managed designs to be created on demand.
BMW included the color-changing exterior as a part of a set of options it stated are supposed to create a stronger bond between folks and their vehicles. The “Dee” within the title stands for Digital Emotional Expertise.
“With the BMW i Imaginative and prescient Dee, we’re exhibiting what is feasible when and software program merge,” stated BMW Group President Oliver Zipse.
“On this approach, we will exploit the total potential of digitization to show the automobile into an clever companion.”
Developed with expertise firm E Ink, the automobile’s exterior is split into 240 individually controllable segments.
The group needed to adapt E Ink expertise for curved surfaces and develop new digital controls and laser chopping processes to create the outside.
The i Imaginative and prescient Dee idea additionally incorporates different options that should merge the digital and bodily worlds and embody a imaginative and prescient for the way forward for automotive design.
One is known as the Blended Actuality Slider – a five-step slider on the dashboard that introduces immersive digital parts inside as you progress your finger additional alongside it.
At step one of many slider, the sprint seems analog, with switches and digital shows tucked away till wanted. Within the steps above, driving-related info is displayed on the windscreen show, with step 4 together with augmented actuality projections that might, for instance, spotlight a bicycle owner or a pedestrian crossing on the street forward.
To go to the acute finish of the slider could be to enter a totally digital world, with a dash-projected digital panorama changing that of the bodily world.
“With the BMW i Imaginative and prescient Dee, we present how the automobile will be seamlessly built-in into your digital life and change into a trusted accomplice,” stated BMW Group head of design Adrian van Hooydonk. “The automobile itself turns into your portal to the digital world – with the driving force at all times in management.”
“Carried out proper, expertise will create dignified experiences, make you a greater driver, and easily deliver folks and vehicles nearer collectively.”
BMW’s head-up show, which it calls the Head-Up Show, additionally will get an replace with the i Imaginative and prescient Dee. Now spanning all the width of the windshield, it is a component of the i Imaginative and prescient Dee to be carried out in BMW’s manufacturing vehicles. The corporate stated it is going to be obtainable in its Neue Klasse fashions beginning in 2025.
To finish the personalised expertise, the idea automobile presents voice interplay, talking to the person in a pure language. It additionally produces “facial expressions” resembling blinking with the digitally enhanced headlights and grille.
BMW first launched color-changing e-ink expertise with final yr’s black-and-white iX Stream, which it envisioned getting used to match the driving force’s temper and save vitality.
The model beforehand explored these concepts with the MINI Imaginative and prescient Subsequent 100 idea, the place altering the colour made the automobile adaptable to a number of customers.
Picture courtesy of BMW.
The Shopper Electronics Present takes place in Las Vegas from 5 to eight January 2023. Take a look at the Dezeen Occasions Information for an up-to-date listing of structure and design occasions happening world wide.