In line with BMW, the forthcoming NEUE KLASSE electrical sedan might be as necessary within the model’s second 100 years because the 1600 and 2002 fashions have been to its first. And the BMWi Imaginative and prescient Dee is our first glimpse on the concepts that can form it. And a few of these concepts are a welcome return to the model’s roots in sedans and functionally pushed design.

When Adrian Van Hooydonk informed us final yr to anticipate a change in design philosophy we have been intrigued. The MINI Aceman give us a glimpse of what that meant for MINI. Immediately the BMWi Imaginative and prescient Dee provides us that very same glimpse of the way forward for BMW.

Trade going by way of adjustments and most aren’t going away. For us as designers this represents the chance. When tech change, designers could make larger, bolder adjustments in design and we’re about to try this in all of our manufacturers. It additionally has a robust connection to the unique 1959 Mini in philosophy. Within the subsequent few months you’ll see these kind of huge leaps with all of our manufacturers. 

Adrian Van Hooydonk – Head of BMW Group Design

In our temporary time with the Imaginative and prescient Dee a number of issues grew to become clear. Flame surfacing, that design idea that has been part of BMW’s because the 2001 7 Sequence is lifeless. As a substitute is minimal, and nearly light varieties and creases that really feel straight linked to the E21 technology 3 Sequence.

The opposite is a return to wheels and the nook proportions. That important design ethos that served BMW for many years was pushed by efficiency. Nonetheless pedestrian security requirements (amongst different issues) appeared to take that away from BMW as a model ethos. With out a huge lump of steel upfront, these requirements don’t need to be met with two ft of plastic and rubber in entrance of the entrance wheels. This seemingly will permit BMW to return to that basic proportion we’ve recognized for many years and is the hallmark of such vehicles because the E21 and E30.

Screens Are Each Gone and In every single place

Sure BMW will discuss in regards to the private avatar and AI pushed digital help however the true attention-grabbing development right here by way of know-how is one thing known as Shytech and a full width heads-up show. Shytech is an idea pioneered by the OEM provider Continental that embeds screens behind materials reminiscent of material, plastic and even wooden. The idea is easy – the inside seems to haven’t any digital interfaces in any respect. Till you want them. As soon as on they change into full practical and might be embedded in way more natural methods than a large rectangle within the middle stack.

Then there’s the full width HUD which acts as the primary space for infotainment and car data. It’s a easy but inevitable conclusion for automotive infotainment. It’s each the place your eyes needs to be and the pure largest display placement doable. BMW says we’ll see a manufacturing model by 2025. We’d wager will probably be within the NEUE KLASSE sedan and small crossover earlier than spreading to the remainder of the vary.

How Shut its he Imaginative and prescient Dee to the NEUE KLASSE?

We anticipate the general form and proportion to be very shut. There might be trim parts and certain a extra strong entrance and rear construction for crash normal functions. However we anticipate this sort of minimal design language to be on the middle of that automobile when it arrives in 2025.

Official Launch: Final companion – by way of actual and digital worlds: BMW presents BMW i Imaginative and prescient Dee in Las Vegas.

Munich/Las Vegas. The BMW Group is sharing its imaginative and prescient of the long run digital expertise, each inside and out of doors the car, on the Client Electronics Present (CES) 2023 in Las Vegas. BMW i Imaginative and prescient Dee is the futuristic mid-size sedan with a brand new and pared-down design language. The title “Dee” stands for Digital Emotional Expertise – and that’s exactly its goal: to create a good stronger bond between folks and their vehicles going ahead. Future digital features will go far past the extent of voice management and driver help techniques we’re acquainted with as we speak. The BMW Head-Up-Show extends throughout the total width of the windscreen, offering a glimpse of the following car technology. From 2025 onwards, this innovation might be obtainable within the fashions of the NEUE KLASSE. The BMW Group has additionally refined its use of colour-change know-how. Having unveiled the BMW iX Movement That includes E Ink, with the power to alter from black to white, on the final CES, BMW i Imaginative and prescient Dee can now curate its exterior in as much as 32 colors. 

“With the BMW i Imaginative and prescient Dee, we’re showcasing what is feasible when {hardware} and software program merge. On this approach, we’re in a position to exploit the total potential of digitalisation to remodel the automobile into an clever companion. That’s the future for automotive producers – and, additionally, for BMW: the fusion of the digital expertise with real driving pleasure,” mentioned Oliver Zipse, Chairman of the Board of Administration of BMW AG. “On the identical time, BMW i Imaginative and prescient Dee is one other step on the street to the NEUE KLASSE. With this imaginative and prescient, we’re trying far into the long run and underlining the super significance of digitalisation for our upcoming product generations.”

With its clever, nearly human capabilities, BMW i Imaginative and prescient Dee accompanies drivers not solely by way of real-life conditions on the roads, but in addition of their digital atmosphere.

“A BMW lives by its unparalleled digital efficiency. BMW i Imaginative and prescient Dee is about good integration of digital and bodily experiences,” mentioned Frank Weber, member of the Board of Administration of BMW AG accountable for Improvement. “Whoever excels at integrating the client’s on a regular basis digital worlds into the car in any respect ranges will achieve mastering the way forward for car-building.”

BMW Combined Actuality Slider: into the digital world in 5 steps 
The BMW Combined Actuality Slider, together with the superior Head-up Show, is the digital spotlight and central working management of BMW i Imaginative and prescient Dee. Utilizing shy-tech sensors on the instrument panel, drivers can resolve for themselves how a lot digital content material they need to see on the superior Head-Up Show. The five-step choice ranges from analogue, to driving-related data, to the contents of the communications system, to augmented-reality projection, proper as much as entry into digital worlds. In parallel, dimmable home windows may also be used to steadily fade out actuality. Combined actuality might be skilled in BMW i Imaginative and prescient Dee in an immersive approach that engages completely different senses with out requiring any extra instruments, creating a brand new dimension of driving pleasure for the consumer.

Superior BMW Head-Up-Show: in NEUE KLASSE from 2025 
The BMW Group is understood within the automotive sector as a trailblazer for the Head-Up-Show and has systematically refined this know-how over the previous 20 years. In BMW i Imaginative and prescient Dee, projection throughout the whole width of the windscreen permits data to be displayed on the biggest doable floor – which solely turns into recognisable as a show as soon as it’s activated. On this approach, the BMW Group demonstrates the large potential of projection know-how and BMW i Imaginative and prescient Dee visualises how a superior Head-Up-Show may be utilised sooner or later for the show and working idea. The usual-production model of the BMW Head-up-Show extending throughout the total width of the windscreen might be used within the fashions of the NEUE KLASSE from 2025 onwards.

Welcome state of affairs with voice and phygital icons 
The digital expertise already begins outdoors the car, with a personalised welcome state of affairs that mixes graphical parts, gentle and sound results. Pure language serves as the best, most intuitive type of interplay, enabling good understanding between people and their autos. The headlights and the closed BMW kidney grille additionally kind a standard phygital (fusion of bodily and digital) icon on a uniform floor, permitting the car to provide completely different facial expressions. This implies BMW i Imaginative and prescient Dee can discuss to folks and, on the identical time, specific moods reminiscent of pleasure, astonishment or approval visually. BMW i Imaginative and prescient Dee can even mission a picture of the driving force’s avatar onto the facet window to additional personalise the welcome state of affairs.

World premiere for full-colour E Ink know-how 
Following the spectacular debut of the BMW iX Movement That includes E Ink at CES 2022, the BMW Group is now unveiling a full-colour model of the E Ink know-how in BMW i Imaginative and prescient Dee that might be used because the outer pores and skin of the car for the primary time worldwide.

BMW i Imaginative and prescient Dee, quite than merely alternating between black and white, now showcases a multi-coloured, totally variable and individually configurable exterior. An ePaper movie from the BMW Group’s cooperation associate, E Ink, is utilized to the physique to create this magical show of color. As much as 32 colors might be displayed.

The physique floor of the BMW i Imaginative and prescient Dee is split into 240 E Ink segments, every of which is managed individually. This enables an nearly infinite number of patterns to be generated and various inside seconds. The laser reducing course of used to trim the movies and the digital management design have been developed in partnership with E Ink. The difference of this know-how for curved surfaces and the programming of the animations, have been developed by BMW Group’s in-house engineers – enabling a kind enabling a type of customisation that’s distinctive all through the automotive sector worldwide.

Reductive design – inside and outside
The design of BMW i Imaginative and prescient Dee has been intentionally pared all the way down to focus consideration on the digital expertise and the DNA of the BMW model. The outside is outlined by the basic three-box sedan design that varieties the core of the BMW model. Conventional design parts, just like the BMW kidney grille, twin round headlights and the Hofmeister kink, are reimagined, with phygital icons changing analogue parts. This offers BMW i Imaginative and prescient Dee its personal digital, however human, character.

Inside, digitalisation goes hand in hand with reductive use of supplies, working controls and shows to make sure nothing distracts from the digital expertise and the brand new feeling of enhanced driving pleasure. The unconventional design of the steering wheel, with its central vertical spoke, creates touchpoints that come to life when approached or touched and might be operated by transferring the thumb. These phygital touchpoints management number of the content material projected onto the windscreen and, along with the Head-Up Show, thus help the precept of “fingers on the wheel, eyes on the street”.

“With BMW i Imaginative and prescient Dee, we’re exhibiting how the automobile might be seamlessly built-in into your digital life and change into a trusty companion. The car itself turns into your portal to the digital world – with the driving force all the time in management,” mentioned Adrian van Hooydonk, head of BMW Group Design. “Carried out the fitting approach, know-how will create worthwhile experiences, make you a greater driver and easily convey people and machines nearer collectively.”

One other milestone on the street to the NEUE KLASSE 
The way forward for the BMW Group is electrical, round and digital. BMW i Imaginative and prescient Dee represents the digital facet of this trio and might be one other milestone on the street to the following car technology, the NEUE KLASSE. The BMW Group will present additional insights and glimpses of the revolutionary car idea of the NEUE KLASSE over the course of 2023.

BMWi Imaginative and prescient Dee Picture Gallery