At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2023 in Las Vegas, the BMW Group has presented its vision of the digital experience of the future, both inside and outside the vehicle. The futuristic mid-size saloon with a fresh, simplified design language is the BMW I Vision Dee. Dee stands for Digital Emotional Experience, and that is exactly what it aims to do moving forward: forge an even closer link between individuals and their cars. Future digital features will be significantly more advanced than the voice control and driver assistance technologies we are accustomed to today. The entire width of the windscreen is covered by the BMW Head-Up Display, which gives a peek of the coming car generation. This innovation will be offered in NEUE KLASSE models starting in 2025. Additionally, the BMW Group has improved how it employs color-change technology. The BMW iX Flow Featuring E Ink, which could switch from black to white, was introduced at the last CES. Now, the BMW I Vision Dee can choose from up to 32 colors for the outside.
BMW Mixed Reality Slider: into the virtual world in five steps
The digital centerpiece and primary point of operation of the BMW I Vision Dee is the BMW Mixed Reality Slider in conjunction with the cutting-edge Head-Up Display. Drivers can choose how much digital content they want to view on the sophisticated Head-Up Display using low-tech sensors on the instrument panel. The five options are analogue, driving-related information, communications system content, augmented reality projection, and finally, admission into virtual worlds. Dimmable windows can likewise be used to gradually mute reality in parallel. In BMW I Vision Dee, mixed reality may be experienced in an immersive manner that stimulates many senses without the need for additional tools, adding a new level of driving enjoyment for the user.
Advanced BMW Head-Up-Display: in NEUE KLASSE from 2025
The BMW Group has steadily improved this technology over the past 20 years and is recognised in the automobile industry as a pioneer of the Head-Up Display. BMW I Vision Dee uses projection across the width of the windscreen to display information on the greatest area possible, which is only discernible as a display once it is turned on. In this way, the BMW Group shows off the enormous potential of projection technology, and BMW I Vision Dee imagines how an improved Head-Up Display could also be used in the future for the notion of display and operation. From 2025 on, models of the NEUE KLASSE will employ the standard-production version of the BMW Head-up Display that spans the entire width of the windscreen.
Welcome scenario with voice and phygital icons
Outside the vehicle, a customized welcome scene combining visual components, lighting, and sound effects kicks off the digital experience. Natural language enables complete comprehension between people and their automobiles since it is the simplest, most intuitive type of communication. The headlights and closed BMW kidney grille also combine to create a shared phygital emblem on a uniform surface, which enables the car to make many facial emotions. This means that BMW I Vision Dee may converse with people while also visually expressing emotions like joy, amazement, or approval. To further customize the welcome scene, BMW I Vision Dee can also project an image of the driver's avatar onto the side window.
World premiere for full-color E Ink technology
The BMW Group is currently introducing a full-color version of the E Ink technology in the BMW I Vision Dee, which will be utilized as the outside skin of the vehicle for the first time ever in the world, following the dramatic presentation of the BMW iX Flow Featuring E Ink at CES 2022.
Instead of merely switching between black and white, the outside of the BMW I Vision Dee is now multicolored, fully flexible, and individually configurable. The body of the vehicle is covered with an ePaper coating from the BMW Group's collaborative partner, E Ink. Displays of up to 32 colors are possible.
240 E Ink segments that can be individually controlled make up the body surface of the BMW I Vision Dee. This enables the creation and variation of an almost unlimited number of designs in a matter of seconds. Together with E Ink, we created the electronic control system and the laser cutting technique used to trim the films. The BMW Group's internal engineers created the technology's adaption for curved surfaces and the animation programming, providing a type of customization that is unmatched in the global car industry.
Reductive design – inside and out
In order to draw attention to the digital experience and the core elements of the BMW brand, the design of BMW I Vision Dee has been purposefully simplified. The iconic three-box saloon design, which serves as the foundation of the BMW brand, defines the exterior. Phygital icons are used in place of analogue components in classic design aspects including the BMW kidney grille, dual circular headlights, and the Hofmeister kink. As a result, BMW I Vision Dee has a distinctively digital yet human personality.
To guarantee that nothing interferes with the digital experience and the new sense of enhanced driving pleasure, digitalization inside goes hand in hand with reductive use of materials, operating controls, and displays. With its central vertical spoke and unique form, the steering wheel produces touchpoints that are activated when approached or touched and can be used to move the thumb. Together with the Head-Up Display, these physical touchpoints enable selection of the content that is projected onto the windscreen, supporting the maxim "hands on the wheel, eyes on the road."
Another milestone on the road to the NEUE KLASSE
The BMW Group will be electric, circular, and digital in the future. The digital component of this trio is represented by BMW I Vision Dee, another step toward the NEUE KLASSE, the following vehicle generation. Over the course of 2023, the BMW Group will offer additional details and sneak peeks at the groundbreaking vehicle concept of the NEUE KLASSE.
