BMW has landed at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas with the BMW i Vision Dee, a medium-sized sedan with a strong futuristic character and a minimalist design. A prototype that serves as a preview for electric vehicles that will arrive from 2025: tech-savvy drivers are in luck.
The BMW i Vision Dee Concept is a window to the new Neue Klasse platform, the same on which the next BMW 3 Series (electric) will settle and with which, predictably, solid-state batteries will arrive. This prototype arrives with a clear objective: to provide the driver with an emotional digital experience (hence, the initials of its name: DEE, Digital Emotional Experience).
The German brand explains that, with it, they show “how the vehicle can be perfectly integrated into the driver’s digital life, becoming a trusted companion. The car itself becomes your portal to the digital world with the driver always in command.”
the elements of always
The exterior design of the BMW i Vision Dee Concept has been simplified to focus attention on the digital experience it offers. It does, however, have a number of characteristic BMW design elements. that have been adapted for the occasion, such as the kidney grille, the headlights and the Hofmeister curve.
It also has the latest version of ‘E Ink’ technology that we already saw, a year ago, in the BMW iX: yes, the body of the BMW i Vision Dee also changes color. Being divided into 240 different sections, it leaves behind black and white to display up to 32 different tones, which can be individually configured. The kidney grill can also make grimaces to show expressions of wonder, approval…
More features for the windshield
The minimalist philosophy continues inside. The BMW i Vision Dee is designed to display an image of the driver’s avatar in the side window when approaching the car: at that moment, the doors will open automatically and the car will greet you. The cabin has been designed in such a way to “ensure that nothing interrupts the digital experience and neither does the new sensation of driving”. Not surprisingly, the physical controls have disappeared to emphasize the use of voice commands and keep your eyes on the road.
The BMW i Vision Dee has a unique steering wheel with a vertical spoke and two touch controls, but the focus is on the windshield: they have turned it into a huge Head-Up Display that covers the entire width of the glass surface. Information that would normally be displayed on a traditional instrument cluster or central touch screen is now projected onto the front glass. And to control what appears and what does not, the driver has the ‘BMW Mixed Reality Slider’, a mixed reality control
BMW has revealed that this technology will be incorporated into all models that, from 2025, are built on the Neue Klasse platform.
