The concept BMW i Vision Dee unveiled at CES in Las Vegas showcased several innovations the Bavarian automaker is imagining for the future and among them, one of the most notable was the car’s ability to change colorfrom a range of 32 shades.
This painting thanks to an applied E Ink technology, similar to that used for e-readers, in the form of 32 panels arranged on the entire body.
This feature is not totally a first for the brand then the concept BMW iX Flow with E-Ink proposed the same thing a year ago, with only shades of gray. But why is the brand exploring this possibility?
The engineers who worked on this technology have, as the name of their prototype indicates, a real vision for color-changing cars.
Ecology and road safety at the heart of the concept
According to Stella Clarke, responsible for this innovation at BMWchanging the color of his car will be useful for reduce emissions and improve road safety.
It is indeed possible to adapt the color of the car to the weather conditions, which will allow use the air conditioning less. We all know that a black bodywork attracts heat and according to the engineer, adopting a light color on hot summer days will reduce the interior temperature and therefore reduce the demands on the air conditioning, and at the same time the energy consumed.
The display of colors does not consume any energy, only the passage from one color to another soliciting the battery.
As for road safety, the body could also change color very quickly to alert other road users in case of imminent danger, in an even more visible way than traditional lights. Stella Clarke even imagines ambulances signaling themselves in an even more visible way than with conventional luminous lights.
So expect to find this technology on production BMWs, and maybe not in that long. Clarke assures that his team is not “not very far” a technically viable solution and “ensure” that the builder “go in this direction.”