A lot of us were pretty amazed when color-changing phones came out but it’s 2023 now and BMW thinks it’s about time for a color-changing car.
At this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the BMW I Vision Dee concept car made an appearance. Right off the bat, it’s interesting, almost all-white design catches your attention but it’s also riddled with both fun and useful technology and innovations.
Let’s first talk about its color-changing abilities. Last year, BMW introduced the iX Flow to the world which also allowed the vehicle to change color through the vehicle’s E Ink technology. However, last year’s concept car was limited to changing from just black to white and vice versa. The BMW i Vision Dee boasts more with 32 colors available and various customization options too. The E Ink technology mentioned earlier breaks up the car’s exterior into 240 segments that can be controlled individually.
Interestingly, the vehicle’s color-changing ability isn’t its most interesting feature.
The big idea of BMW’s concept car is the seamless blending of physical and digital. The windscreen, for example, doubles as a display that projects driving-relevant information. The level or amount of information projected on the windscreen can be controlled using the BMW Mixed Reality Slider found on the dash. At lower levels, information is kept to the essentials but as you go further up the slider, the windshield will be able to display notifications from your phone and even project full AR worlds.
Up next we have Dee, the vehicle’s built-in personal assistant. Unlike today’s current smart assistants, BMW designed Dee to be more human when interacting with the driver and passengers. BMW highlights voice interaction (as opposed to voice commands, I suppose) as the most important mode of operation.
Short for Digital emotional experience, Dee could be treated more like the vehicle’s voice since you can even hear and talk to her from the outside. Dee even reacts to the situation using “Phygital Icons” on the headlights that basically transform the lights to look like eyes.
BMW announced that it will be bringing its updated, full-length Heads-Up Display and its new assistant Dee to future vehicles starting with the Neue Klasse models coming in 2025.
As for its E Ink tech and other features? Maybe not in the near future. As with most concept cars, the i Vision Dee was a way for the company to showcase its latest innovations and technologies. While ridiculously cool, features like color-changing panels and AR-projecting windshields would probably result in an exorbitant price tag.
Though it wouldn’t be surprising if we see future vehicles that take inspiration from the BMW i Vision Dee. We’re already getting a new voice assistant in a couple of years and BMW will most likely draw design inspiration from this concept car as well. Maybe a few years more and we’ll be driving in AR, too.
