BMW unveils an amazing concept halfway between reality and video game. This is Dee.
BMW’s iVision Dee might just be one of the stars of CES in Las Vegas. Because she has an adorable face, but above all because she has a sense of hospitality. Indeed, when imagining this concept supposed to embody its future Neue Klasse platform, the German manufacturer wanted to equip it with the best in digital technology. It starts with an AI, able to recognize its owner when it approaches, greet it and offer a bunch of features on board. In order to better understand this concept synonymous with ” digitalization to the extreme for BMW, we went to discover the iVision Dee.
A design apart
The first surprise with Dee is visual. BMW’s concept is the exact opposite of the oversized SUVs in vogue today. A very compact little saloon, it takes up the dimensions and some stylistic elements of the 1500 and 1800 of the 1960s. It is also for this reason that some will see in the Dee concept, the first sign of the arrival of a future 3 100 Series % electric.
The other distinctive sign of the concept is its ability to metamorphose. Last year, still at CES, BMW unveiled an iX Flow capable of changing color. The manufacturer has more or less taken up the same process, which has been much improved in the meantime, to apply it more sparingly to various elements of the bodywork. Thus, it is found on the optics at the front, but also around the side windows where a band allows the vehicle to be tinted slightly using a thin layer of e-ink electronic ink. As for the headlights, their change in shape gives the car personality, even “Cars” style eyes in the best of cases.
Another striking element: the side windows of Dee can display content, starting with a welcome message and the avatar of its owner. How ? The windows of the concept are made of several layers. Their glass offers ten levels of transparency and allows the projected image to be displayed from inside the car. This is the first step in the process of welcoming the car, as we touched on briefly, Dee speaks, and quite well.
An AI at the service of the driver
The Digital Emotional Experience (Dee) obviously continues inside the vehicle. “With the BMW i Vision Dee, we show what is possible when the hardware and the software merge. Thus, we are able to exploit the full potential of the digitalization to make the car an intelligent teammate. This is the future of the automobile – and also that of BMW: the fusion of the virtual experience with real driving pleasure.”explains Oliver Zipse, chairman of the board of directors of BMW.
Concretely, in the passenger compartment, this amounts to hiding as much as possible any element that could disturb the purity of the whole. That’s why inside the Dee there are no buttons or screen. For the driver and his passengers, everything goes through three elements: the steering wheel of course, a head-up display which projects an incalculable amount of information on the screen and, finally, a button in the center of the dashboard. This will define the level of “digitalization” of the car according to a slider which can be moved to five positions. The passage from one level to another determines the size of the head-up display, the environment on board, but also the autonomous driving capabilities of the car. The fifth and last level takes you to another dimension, the famous “digital emotion experience”. In this level, the display would be able to model the entirety of the car’s immediate environment and transport you to a kind of video game… in real life. It is here that Dee offers its most conceptual aspect, but also the most stunning.
Of course, even if Dee is supposed to embody the Neue Klasse platform planned for 2025, these kinds of features should not be included. On the other hand, as in any good concept, it is interesting to see what is achievable and what sets the tone for the future of the brand. In the case of BMW, there is little doubt that the idea of an electric 3 Series is gaining ground. As for e-ink-based color-changing technology, it’s not a craze reserved for salons. The progress made in a year and the fact of having found a new function for it tend to indicate that BMW is seriously considering it in the fairly near future. As for going from the reality of the road to that of a video game, on this point, Dee certainly sees very far, but for our part, we enjoyed the experience.
