BMW i Vision Dee electric concept revealed
Minimalist design isn’t something we’ve associated with BMW of late, so the just-revealed electric i Vision Dee concept is a refreshing, simplistic treat.
A world away from front grilles that could swallow a herd of buffalo, the i Vision Dee mid-size sedan concept offers, BMW says, a new and pared-down design language. Style fans, you have permission to quietly rejoice…
The Dee’s also “another step on the road to the neue klasse” (German for “new class”) – BMW’s future model line-up (likely battery electric and fuel cell electric vehicles) due from 2025.
A Digital Emotional Experience
So what can we glean from the i Vision Dee? It follows 2021’s fully recyclable i-Vision Circular compact BMW concept, and this larger Dee – which stands for Digital Emotional Experience – continues the sustainability theme but with an emphasis on “an even stronger bond between people and their cars.”
BMW claims it will be your “ultimate companion” through real and virtual worlds with “future digital functions (that) will go far beyond the level of voice control and driver assistance systems we are familiar with today.” I’m thinking KITT / Knight Rider, even if you’re not.
That means, we’re told, hardware and software merging so digitalisation can transform the car into an intelligent companion. “That is the future for automotive manufacturers – and, also, for BMW: the fusion of the virtual experience with genuine driving pleasure,” said BMW boss Oliver Zipse.
BMW’s development boss, Frank Weber, took things even further. “BMW i Vision Dee is about perfect integration of virtual and physical experiences,” he said. “Whoever excels at integrating the customer’s everyday digital worlds into the vehicle at all levels will succeed in mastering the future of car building.”
But the Dee’s size and shape are far more olde klasse – that is the classic three-box sedan design. Fluoro yellow wheels may be quite out-there, but there are the expected nods to BMW’s style traditions, including reimagined kidney grille, twin circular headlights and the Hofmeister kink.
But not analogue ones. No. These have been replaced by “phygital” icons – a fusion of physical and digital – which allow the vehicle to produce different facial expressions. BMW says it “gives BMW i Vision Dee its own digital, but human, character.”
Unlike, say, your old BMW E30 3-Series, “i Vision Dee can talk to people and, at the same time, express moods such as joy, astonishment or approval visually.”
If it all feels a bit too much like a scary Zuckerberg fantasy, how about the Dee’s Mixed Reality Slider? Here we can go into the virtual world in five steps. Shy-tech sensors on the instrument panel allow drivers to decide how much digital content they want to see in the head-up display. Which, incidentally, extends the full length of the windscreen.
Your five step selection ranges from analogue, to driving related information, to the contents of the communications system, to augmented-reality projection, right up to entry into virtual worlds.
If you’re into your “mixed reality” the Dee really will be your bag. We’re told “dimmable windows can also be used to gradually fade out reality.” Ideal if you’re stuck in traffic on a wet winter morning in west Sydney.
Something rather fun (or perhaps horrifying) is the ability to project an image of the driver’s avatar onto the side window “to further personalise the welcome scenario.” That’ll score points with even the most narcissistic TikToker.
Renderings show the interior to be suitably minimalist, with nothing found on the centre console or dashboard, bar a rather funky steering wheel with central vertical spoke. All will be controlled through that head-up display, voice activation and thumb touchpoints on the steering wheel.
The i Vision Dee is clearly a vehicle to showcase future technology and BMW’s plans to make its 2025+ neue klasse offerings more like digital automotive companions. Hence no word on what powers this concept, but you can guarantee it’ll be electrified and not a petrol-gulping straight-six.
Positively, if BMW produces an EV of the size and appealing shape of the Dee by 2025, these New Class cars could be as game-changing as the sporty sedans and coupes that revolutionised the brand in the 1960s.
