BMW Launches the iX Flow Concept Car whose Color Can Change Like a Rainbow at CES 2023

JAKARTA - At CES a year ago, the BMW iX Flow concept was called "the world's first color-changing car". At that time, the special version of the iX model electric crossover could change its various panels to colors between white, black, and gray.

For this year's CES, BMW showcased the i Vision Dee, an all-electric sports sedan concept featuring a whole suite of technologies we could see in the near future, such as an AI-powered virtual assistant and a full windshield head-up display. But it also includes a full-color version of the E Ink technology that was seen on last year's concept for the first time.

This means that the i Vision Dee, which looks like a cross between a vintage BMW and a Tesla, can change colors at the user's command. Not only black, white and gray, now 32 colors are also available.

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Not only that, the i Vision Dee consists of 240 E Ink e-paper segments, all of which can be controlled individually. This means i Vision Dee can switch to a single solid color or put on an extraordinary light show.

"This allows an almost infinite variety of patterns to be generated and varied within seconds," BMW said in a statement, quoted by The Verge.

Dee made his color-changing debut during Wednesday night's BMW CES keynote, joined on stage by Knight Rider's KITT, Herbie the Love Bug, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Schwarzenegger also stars in this short film showing how Dee's advanced features work.

This BMW concept leverages technology developed by US-based E Ink Corporation, which is behind e-readers and various smartwatches. The film on a car contains tiny microcapsules whose pigments change when electricity is applied. While E Ink has seen a number of applications over the years, BMW says it is unique to the automotive sector, being developed and programmed by in-house engineers.

What's more, this concept uses the latest technology from E Ink, called Prism 3 film, which is fully programmable and intended for low power consumption and sustainability. Prism 3 can also be produced in any shape, making the applications for industrial design seem endless.

“E Ink's display technology is very low power as it is maintainable,” said E Ink in a news release. “Pair with industry-leading energy efficiency digital paper, E Ink enables its partners to disrupt the industry through sustainable technologies and has been integrated into everything from eReaders to mobile phones to wearable medical devices to logistics labels and digital signage.”

The e-paper segment is also used on the concept's wheels and grille, with the latter creating "facial expressions" as its AI assistant reacts to various inputs.

Will BMW change the color of its production cars? For now, this is an in-house R&D project - but it has already garnered a lot of attention within both the automaker and the wider world. SlashGear notes that the brains behind the project, Australian engineer Stella Clarke and her team, have been working to develop and refine the e-paper since last year's CES.

Right now, they're working on making e-paper panels tougher and able to stand up to things like flying insects and car washes. As is the case now, de rigueur road damage renders the panel out of action, as was the case with the black-and-white iX Flow.

The team's main target was to create a spray that could be applied to body panels more easily, but that was a long way off. The cost is also unclear, although Clarke hinted that it could be lower than you might think.

If BMW can go from black and white to stunning rainbow looks in just a year, perhaps E Ink could be the next must-have option for anyone looking to really show off in their M3.