BMW presents BMW i Vision Dee in Las Vegas

At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2023 in Las Vegas, the BMW Group is presenting its vision for the future of digital experiences both inside and outside the vehicle.

BMW and Vision D

The BMW i Vision Dee is a futuristic mid-range limousine with a new minimalist language. "Dee" stands for "Digital Emotional Experience" - and that's exactly what it aims to do: to create an even stronger connection between people and their cars in the future. Future digital capabilities will go far beyond the level of voice control and driver assistance systems we know today.

The BMW head-up display extends across the entire width of the windshield, allowing you to experience the taste of next-generation vehicles. From 2025, this innovation will be offered on New Class models.

“Together with BMW and Vision Dee, we are demonstrating the possibilities of combining hardware and software. In this way, we can use the full potential of digitalization to turn the car into an intelligent companion. This is the future of car manufacturers and also the future of BMW: combining a virtual experience with real driving pleasure,” says Oliver Zipse, Chairman of the Management Board of BMW AG. “At the same time, BMW and Vision Dee are another step towards a new class. With this vision, we look far into the future and highlight the importance of digitization for our future generations of products.

Thanks to the intelligent, almost human capabilities of the BMW i Vision, Dee accompanies drivers not only in real driving situations, but also in their digital environment.

“BMW lives with unparalleled digital efficiency. BMW and Vision Dee are the perfect integration of virtual and physical experiences,” said Frank Weber, Member of the Management Board of BMW AG in charge of Development. “Whoever succeeds in integrating the everyday digital worlds of customers into the car at all levels will succeed in car manufacturing in the future.

BMW Mixed Reality Slider: five steps to the virtual world

The BMW Mixed Reality slider, combined with the advanced Head-Up Display, is a digital highlight and the centerpiece of the BMW i Vision Dee. Using hidden gauges located on the dashboard, drivers can decide how much digital content they want to see on the advanced head-up display. The choice of five steps ranges from analog information, driving information, communication system content, augmented reality projection to entering virtual worlds. In parallel with this, windows can be tinted to gradually separate reality. In the BMW i Vision Dee, mixed reality can be experienced in an immersive, multi-sensory way without the need for additional tools, giving the user a new dimension of driving pleasure.

BMW advanced head-up display in a new class from 2025

The BMW Group is a pioneer in head-up displays in the automotive industry and has systematically improved this technology over the past two decades. In the BMW i Vision Dee, the full-width windshield projection allows information to be displayed on the largest possible area, which becomes recognizable as a display only when switched on. In this way, the BMW Group demonstrates the enormous potential of projection technology, and the BMW i Vision Dee shows how an advanced head-up display can be used for display and work in the future. BMW's standard full-width head-up display will be used in the new class of models from 2025.

Welcome script with voice and number icons

The digital experience begins even outside the vehicle with a personalized welcome script that combines graphics, lighting and sound effects. Natural language serves as the simplest and most intuitive form of interaction, enabling perfect communication between people and their vehicles. BMW's headlights and closed grille create a physically-digital badge on a single surface, allowing the car to achieve a variety of "facial expressions". Thus, BMW i Vision Dee can talk to people and at the same time visually express their mood, such as joy, surprise or approval. The BMW i Vision Dee can also display the driver's avatar image on the side window to further personalize the greeting scenario.

World premiere of full color e-ink technology

Following the impressive e-ink debut of the BMW iX Flow at CES 2022, the BMW Group is introducing a full-color version of the e-ink technology in the BMW i Vision Dee, which will be used as a vehicle exterior for the first time. in the world.

Instead of just alternating black and white, the BMW i Vision Dee now features a multi-coloured, fully customizable and customizable appearance. To create a magical color show, an e-paper film from BMW Group partner E Ink is applied to the body. It can display up to 32 colors.

The BMW and Vision Dee body surface is divided into 240 E Ink segments, each of which is controlled separately. Thanks to this, in a few seconds you can generate and modify an almost infinite number of patterns. The laser cutting process used to cut the film and the electronic control design were developed in collaboration with E Ink. The adaptation of this technology to curved surfaces and animation programming were developed by BMW Group's in-house engineers, resulting in a form of personalization unique to the entire automotive sector.

Reduced style - inside and out

The design of the BMW i Vision Dee has been deliberately simplified to focus on the digital experience and DNA of the BMW brand. The exterior is made in the classic style of a three-seater limousine, which is at the heart of the BMW brand. Traditional styling cues such as the BMW grille, twin round headlights and the curved C-pillar (called the Hofmeister kink) have taken on a new form in which analog elements have been replaced by physical and digital badges. This gives the BMW i Vision Dee its own digital yet human character.

In the interior, digitization goes hand in hand with a reduction in materials, controls and displays, so nothing detracts from the digital experience and a new, more intense driving experience. The unconventional style of the center vertical spoke steering wheel has tactile dots that come to life when you approach or touch your hand and can be controlled by swiping with your thumb. These physical-digital touch points allow you to select the content displayed on the windshield and, together with the head-up display, support the principle of "hands on the wheel, eyes on the road."

“BMW i Vision Dee shows how a car can easily integrate into the user's digital environment and be his faithful companion. The car itself becomes a portal to a digital world where the driver is always in control,” says Adrian van Hooydonk, head of design at the BMW Group. “When implemented correctly, technology will create valuable experiences, make you a better driver, and simply bring people and machines closer together.

Another milestone on the way to a new class

The future of the BMW Group is electric, circular and digital. The BMW i Vision Dee represents the digital aspect of the trio and will be a milestone on the road to the next generation of vehicles, a new class. In 2023, the BMW Group will present further perspectives and a foretaste of the revolutionary New Class concept.

Photo: BMW