BMW shows the future of cars to be mixed reality cars

You read that right, BMW announced at CES 2023 a driving, speaking, emotive, mixed reality car. While it still is a concept car slated for a 2025 release, the BMW mixed reality car shows where cars are heading.

What is the BMW iVision Dee mixed reality car?

The BMW iVision Dee (Digital Emotional Experience) concept car is a mid-sized sedan filled with innovative tech and part of BMW’s innovative line called NEUE KLASSE. The car has an ultra-minimalistic design running on the inside and outside while being able to change the paint job on the fly. BMW iVision De will be available for purchase in 2025.

Making iVision Dee a marvel is the blending of the physical and digital throughout. First, it is a mixed reality car that can increase its complexity to four levels.

Courtesy BMW

Slide into four levels of mixed reality 

At mixed reality level one, the bottom part of the windshield display information such as speed, radio channel, and AC temperature projected like a Heads-Up Display.

Mixed reality level 2 takes this up a notch, featuring a connective and social element, like texting and calling friends and family or brushing up on the latest news.

Most excitingly and practical is mixed reality level 3. Here the digital layer will expand throughout the entire windshield and use its sensors to track and predict obstacles and collisions, digitally highlighting them for the driver to avoid possible accidents.

Lastly, mixed reality level 4 is the most conceptual with transforming your car into a driving Social VR application. At this level, you can invite friends and family on your road trips and have them follow along to experience the same as you through the cameras and sensors around the mixed reality car. Added, all the windows around the Dee BMW can digitally augment the surroundings, like changing buildings’ color or trees into pixel art.

“With the BMW i Vision Dee, we are showcasing what is possible when hardware and software merge”, as Oliver Zipse, Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG, says and continues with, exploiting “the full potential of digitalisation to transform the car into an intelligent companion. That is the future for automotive manufacturers”.

Press a button and change the color of your car

But it doesn’t stop with mixed reality. The Dee car can also change into any 32 colors you want. The color-changing tech is E Ink Magic Color, a layered material and coating that uses algorithms to change its color. So besides being able to change the color of your car to fit the situation, like clothing, E Ink can help you find your car by flashing or highlighting when the battery needs charging.

Even more impressive, by controlling the shading and saturation of the car, you can manipulate how it absorbs sunlight and heat. Effectively, using specific colors and shading, you can save on your AC, limiting emissions and saving energy.

iVision Dee and other models in the NEUE KLASSE from BMW will see the light of day in 2025, so to ease the wait, check out BMW’s promotional film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.