Your next car could switch several colors to match your outfit, listen or talk back at you and drive you to virtual worlds. Meet Dee: BMW’s new “i Vision Dee” is an electric sedan concept with panels that can change color accordingly.
Dee stands for Digital Emotional Experience; this BMW mixes physical and digital elements called “phygical icon.” We can describe the i Vision Dee as an eye-catching BMW concept that came from the future with a series of tech innovations.
The goal: According to Zipse (chairman of the board of management BMW), BMW aims to turn your car into an ultimate companion. Dee’s tone varies from cheerfulness to sarcasm, unlike Siri or Alexa but a sassy girl. With the phygical icon, Dee can produce several facial gestures.
According to Interesting Engineering, Stella Clarke, head of project lead, is the mastermind behind this idea. The technology used in e-readers inspired Stella; Dee’s body has 240 e-ink segments. Each segment can work individually. Dee can project a picture (high-resolution graphics) of your avatar on the side windows, allowing passengers in your car to be invisible to the outside.
Image source: www.bmw.it
The interior offers an expansive HUD (head-up display) that spreads across the windscreen, i.e., the entire windscreen is the HUD. No dashboard screen. This excellent feature allows drivers to see vital information while focusing on the road. The “shy tech” sensors enable drivers to customize what they see.
The phygical touchpoint is another fantastic feature that displays a virtual switch for you to press once your hand is close to the door panel. The virtual switch disappears as you move your hand away from the door. Less physical components like this will help automotive companies save on production costs.
Future expectation? At the moment, BMW i vision Dee is just an idea. Meanwhile, its technologies could be available to produce future cars.