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The BMW Group shared its vision of the future digital experiences inside and outside of cars at the CES 2023 technical fair.
It called this futuristic concept car the BMW i Vision Dee. It is a mid-sized sedan with a new and refined design language.
The name “Dee” stands for Digital Emotional Experience – and that’s the goal: to create an even stronger bond between people and their cars in the future. From what I can tell, it’s like a metaverse in your car, as well as KITT of the Knight Rider television show.
Future digital functions will go far beyond the level of voice control and driver assistance systems we are familiar with today. The BMW Head-Up-Display extends across the full width of the windscreen (or windshield).
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From 2025, this innovation will be available in the models of the Neue Klase car.
“With the BMW i Vision Dee, we are showing what is possible when hardware and software merge. In this way we can exploit the full potential of digitization to transform the car into an intelligent companion. That is the future for car manufacturers – and also for BMW: the fusion of the virtual experience with real driving pleasure,” Oliver Zipse, Chairman of BMW AG, said in a statement. “At the same time, BMW i Vision Dee is another step towards the Neue Klasse. With this vision, we look far into the future and underline the enormous importance of digitization for our coming product generations.”
With its intelligent BMW i Vision Dee accompanies drivers not only in real-life situations on the road, but also in their digital environment.
“A BMW lives through its unparalleled digital performance. BMW i Vision Dee is about the perfect integration of virtual and physical experiences,” Frank Weber, member of the Board of Management of BMW AG responsible for development, said in a statement. “Anyone who excels in integrating the customer’s everyday digital world into the vehicle at all levels will succeed in mastering the future of automotive manufacturing.”
BMW mixed reality slider: enter the virtual world in five steps
The BMW mixed reality slider, in combination with the advanced head-up display (which spells BMW Head-Up-Display), is the digital highlight and central control of BMW i Vision Dee.
Using shy-tech sensors on the instrument panel, drivers can decide for themselves how much digital content they want to see on the advanced heads-up display. The five-step selection has analog options, driving related information, the content of the communication system, augmented reality projection and even access to virtual worlds.
At the same time, dimmable windows can also be used to gradually blur reality. Mixed reality can be experienced in BMW i Vision Dee in an immersive way that appeals to different senses without the need for additional aids, creating a new dimension of driving pleasure for the user, the company said.
Advanced BMW heads-up display: in the New Class from 2025
The BMW Group is proud of its heads-up displays and has systematically refined this technology over the past two decades.
In BMW i Vision Dee, projection over the full width of the windscreen ensures that information is displayed on the largest possible surface – which only becomes recognizable as a display when it is activated.
For example, BMW Group sees the potential of projection technology and BMW i Vision Dee visualizes how an advanced heads-up display can also be used for the display and operating concept in the future. The standard production version of the BMW heads-up display, which spans the full width of the windscreen, will be used in Neue Klasse models from 2025.
Welcome scenario with voice and phygital icons
The digital experience begins outside the vehicle, with a personalized welcome scenario that combines graphics, light and sound effects.
BMW said natural language serves as the simplest, most intuitive form of interaction, enabling perfect understanding between people and their vehicles. The headlights and closed BMW kidney grille also form a common phygital (fusion of physical and digital) icon on a unified surface, allowing the vehicle to produce different facial expressions.
This means that BMW i Vision Dee can talk to people and at the same time visually express moods such as joy, surprise or approval. BMW i Vision Dee can also project an image of the driver avatar onto the side window to further personalize the welcome scenario.
Minimalist design – inside and out
The design of BMW i Vision Dee has been deliberately reduced to draw attention to the digital experience and DNA of the BMW brand. The exterior is defined by the classic three-box saloon design that is the core of the BMW brand.
Traditional design elements, such as the BMW kidney grille, twin round headlights and the Hofmeister kink, are reimagined, with physical icons replacing analogue elements. This gives BMW i Vision Dee its own digital, yet human character, the company said.
Inside, digitization goes hand in hand with economical use of materials, controls and displays to ensure that nothing distracts from the digital experience and the new sense of enhanced driving pleasure. The steering wheel’s unconventional design, with its central vertical spoke, creates contact points that come to life when approached or touched and can be controlled by moving the thumb, BMW said.
These physical touch points control the selection of the content projected onto the windshield and thus, together with the heads-up display, support the principle of “hands on the wheel, eyes on the road”, according to BMW.
“With BMW i Vision Dee, we are showing how the car can be seamlessly integrated into your digital life and become a faithful companion. The vehicle itself becomes your gateway to the digital world – with the driver always in control,” Adrian van Hooydonk, Head of BMW Group Design, said in a statement. “Applied the right way, technology will create valuable experiences, make you a better driver and just bring people and machines closer together.”
The road to the New Class
The future of the BMW Group is electric, circular and digital. BMW i Vision Dee represents the digital aspect of this trio and will be another milestone on the way to the next vehicle generation, the Neue Klasse. The BMW Group will provide more insights and glimpses of the revolutionary Neue Klasse vehicle concept over the course of 2023.
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