I will talk to him. “Hello, Dee,” I say nowhere—but she reacts immediately, blinking her eyelashes and even responding, “Hello, Andreas.” Do you know me? Of course, when I entered the salon, it was scanned and my avatar was saved. But we can’t take any more petty talk: he blinks his eyelids, I grin to myself. We should probably get to know each other better.
Joyful? Of course, the sound does not allow for any other conclusion, although Dee is a car. BMW’s new concept car i Vision Dee, including Arnold Schwarzenegger (75) and David Hasselhoff (70), was unveiled at the CES Consumer Electronics Show held in Las Vegas (USA). It’s no longer just tumble dryers and coffee machines: Since the car industry has gone digital, the industry’s breakthrough innovations have been delivered in a gambler’s paradise in the Nevada desert. Blick was allowed to become intimate with Dee beforehand.
Color change at the push of a button
The pale sedan typically looks like a BMW. In silhouette, it even resembles BMW’s “New Class” models from the 1960s: shark-nose sloping front, slender rear, curvature in the rear side window. The reference to the past is intentional. Just as the “New Class” saved BMW at the time from bankruptcy, the new New Class will bring the brand back to the forefront of electromobility from 2025. After starting early with the Carbon Stromer i3, it lagged behind Tesla and Co. But gradually it becomes clear how BMW wants to occupy the fast lane again.
There is little special about Dee at first glance. Until someone connects electricity to the trunk and 240 items, supposedly filled with e-ink, change color: Dee turns her outfit blue or yellow at the touch of a button, can display messages or symbols on the trunk, and even the driver’s picture on the side windows. It even senses its approach and then responds by blinking its e-ink eyes from the front. Much more important, however, is the interior: Dee stands for Digital Emotional Experience, which sounds like advertising, but means a new way to interact between car and driver.
It’s ready for huge touchscreens that offer so many functions that you get lost in submenus and constantly distracted. “We’re putting an end to being overwhelmed in the cockpit,” says Kay Langer. Formerly designing at Mini, now drawing for BMW’s innovation department “i”: “Dee is our vision of how a car can take advantage of all digital possibilities without disturbing people. Technology should adapt to people, not vice versa.” With meaningful digitization, Langer says, instead of the cold, smooth glass of the screens, there will finally be more surfaces that will be fun to touch: fabrics, leather, wood – these bring the simpler, analog feel back to the car, Langer says. But it can be heard clearly.
sitting still forbidden
Inside, there is actually very little to see. I can only look – sitting before the CES premiere is prohibited so as not to damage the precious individual piece. The steering wheel looks odd, with two vertically arranged levers and touch-sensitive areas instead of the usual buttons. Otherwise there is no control – no gear selection, no climate control; No door openers or even seat adjustments. All only become visible under the fabric panels when the driver takes his hand to where he expects it. Dee estimates the seat adjustment and displays it, for example, on the door panel. Only the so-called middle slider is always available: Here you can pre-select in five stages how digital you want to be on the go.
The entire windshield can act as a head-up display. At the initial stage, it still looks like it does today. The most important information such as speed or navigation are displayed at the bottom as virtual arrows. But at every level, digital content increases: more information about the environment, more animations and more dialog windows. At the top level, passengers then sit in their own cocoon. The side windows are dimmed and integrated, a film runs across the entire windshield, or the ugly industrial floor or highway is beautified almost into a flower meadow or coastal landscape. Of course, the car has to drive autonomously – only then the real environment can be completely hidden.
truck for elephants
whimsical? A bit: “Imagine the ugly trucks on the right lane of the highway virtually turn into trotting elephants,” Langer philosophises. Hearty – but doesn’t a driver forget how dangerous road traffic can be? Have customers confronted Dee? “Not yet. We’ve discussed with psychologists how people would likely react to the system. But above all, Dee is our vision for a new operating system,” says Langer. In any case, technically everything is completely realistic – he did not invent anything, only combined the known technology.
It is not yet clear which functions of the new operating system will launch the new electric class at BMW in 2025. It remains to see how autonomously and how virtual it can act. But over time, the AI system will learn more and more about its driver and form a relationship with it, Langer says: its preferences, typical routes, musical tastes and reactions. Only then can Dee exhaust all possibilities. Of course, talking about the weather will help.