Financial Associated Press (Shanghai, editor Zhao Hao) news, local time on Wednesday (January 5), the German BMW Group released a concept car called "iX Flow" at the 2022 International Consumer Electronics Exhibition (CES).
The most amazing thing about this concept car is that it has the ability to change the color of the exterior (black, white, gray only). According to the official video and the short film taken by netizens on the spot, the appearance of this car can directly change from black to gray or white. Not only that, but colors can be changed in the form of stripes, spots, etc., and can also be presented in the form of kaleidoscopes.
Christoph Grote, senior vice president of the BMW Group's electrical and electronics business, said in an interview during the press conference: "We tried the new technology and applied it to the car," adding, "This car can convey your emotions – not only inside the car, but also from the outside of the car." ”
BMW has partnered with a company called "E Ink" to develop this feature of the vehicle. Grote also noted that when driven at high temperatures, the vehicle can change from dark to bright, which will help improve the thermal efficiency of the engine and the thermal regulation inside. In colder weather, the vehicle can turn dark to absorb more of the sun's heat.
Founded in 1997, E Ink, which works with BMW, is dedicated to developing on-screen display technology and has been used in many brand products such as Sony and Amazon, the most famous of which is the Kindle e-reader.
(Source: E Ink official Twitter)
BMW covered the entire body of the SUV with the coating of the E Ink and customized the hemming, with millions of microencapsules on the coating, which contain different pigments, and when stimulated by electrical signals, the pigments of the specified color will rise to the surface of the capsule, causing the vehicle as a whole to change hue.
Grote stressed that "the biggest challenge is not the technology, but how to apply it to cars." The special thing about the car is that it is a three-dimensional surface, so engineers use lasers to cut the screen that was originally flat into a three-dimensional arc. ”
Adrian van Hooydonk, head of BMW Group's design practice, said the color-changing technology on iX Flow was part of the group's plan to develop "human-centric" products that stimulate the senses. However, van Hooydonk pointed out that the BMW Group has not yet confirmed the production of the product.