BMW has the solution for 100% digital interiors: changing the screens for the metaverse

Digitization reigns supreme in  BMW 's new concept car  unveiled at  CES in Las Vegas . Dubbed  the BWM i Vision Dee , it should show us what future BMWs will look like in terms of connectivity and technology. The goal is to have a model that is as connected as it is easy to use, which is expected of next-generation models.

Almost all new models seem to have one thing in common: a huge  touchscreen  dominates the interior of the car. This when there are not multiple screens or the entire dashboard has been replaced by one or more screens.

BMW is one of those who fill their new cars with screens, just look at the new  BMW 7 Series and i7 . But in future, BMW wants to dispense with the usual screens and focus more on what can be said and seen than on what can be touched. In other words, goodbye to touchscreens, because you'll have to talk to the car.

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Unveiled at CES on Wednesday night, BMW unveiled "Dee," its personal voice assistant and head-up display system that will feature prominently in its next generation of cars arriving in 2025, the so-called Neue Klasse.

Digital emotional experience and mixed reality

Dee, which stands for "Digital Emotional Experience", or "Digital Emotional Experience", combines natural voice commands and infotainment information displayed across the width of the windscreen, in a band that can range from 50mm to 200mm and even cover the entire windshield, top to bottom and across the entire width.

Instead of a huge touchscreen in the center of the dash and a driver's dashboard above the steering wheel, Dee replaces it all with configurable screens that vary based on a  "mixed reality" slider.  located inside.

How ugly do we find the exterior through which we walk? In the center, the mixed reality slider which allows it to be completely hidden.

What does this "mixed reality" mean?  Dee can replace the road and buildings around us as we drive by projecting a carpet of grass and flowers and futuristic buildings that overlap reality onto the windshield and side windows.

You can also display all kinds of information and entertainment on the windshield. Moreover, you can even project an avatar of yourself outside the windows or whatever you want without anyone seeing what might be happening inside the car.

Mixed reality: what you see is real, but in another form. The track is the street, while the futuristic flora and buildings are actually the buildings and street furniture of a central street.

Obviously, in a concept car for CES, BMW went to extremes that we won't see in a production car. And it is that most of these functions would only be viable in a level 4 or 5 self-driving car. The industry is barely reaching  level 3 . And with many limitations.

What BMW wants to show us with this i Vision Dee is that it is possible to do without the touch screens that distract the driver so much and at the same time offer all kinds of digital and connected services, taken to the extreme here for the  show .

Of course, almost the only way to  interact with the car then is to speak to it , using natural voice commands, which will always be safer than touching a touchscreen or even a button.

The whole difficulty is to achieve the most natural interaction possible. And that instead of saying "BMW, lower the air conditioning temperature to 21 degrees", you can simply say "as it's hot, turn the air to 20" and the car already puts the air conditioning at 20 degrees.

In any case, that the inventor of the industry's most efficient multimedia control system, and one that many brands imitated until the advent of touchscreens (yes, we're talking about  BMW iDrive  ), envisions a new way interact with vehicle systems. car is a warning to navigators, the time for screens is about to end.

A new design for a new BMW

The BMW i Vision Dee is also more than just a voice assistant. It is also a sign that BMW could redefine its aesthetic language, at least for future models of its  Neue Klasse .

The name chosen for the new BMW is not bland. Neue Klasse, or New Class, in German, refers to the BMW 1500, 1600 and 1800 of the 1960s, then considered a new class and which saved BMW from bankruptcy. But it was also a reference to the new emerging middle class in the 1960s and to whom these models were intended. And the design of the i Vision Dee reflects this BMW past.

The i Vision Dee has a  truly minimalist design , but also very BMW at the same time, which gives off a certain feeling of power and dynamism. It is undoubtedly BMW because all the winks of the brand are present: the double kidney, the  Hofmeister elbow  and the classic three-volume body of the BMW 1500.

But at the same time, if you don't want them, they can disappear thanks to electronic ink, e-ink. The ultra-sleek look of the i Vision Dee aims to get rid of unnecessary elements that add worthless complexity.

And that's something that's much less striking in a brand that's gone superfluous and added elements that are its hallmark. The success of the expensive and optional packs on all the brand's models, from the 1 Series to the X5, is good proof of this.

The i Vision Dee is certainly one more example of BMW's intentions to reinvent itself with this 21st century Neue Klasse, just as it did with the 20th century. A new Neue Klasse, worth the redundancy, which will be electric and even with models with a  170 kW fuel cell  developed with Toyota and a flat tank developed with Bosch. We will see the  first BMW Neue Klasse series from 2025 .