CES 2023: BMW i Vision Dee Packs In On-Board Augmented Reality Tech

Having teased Dee on its social media channels for weeks, BMW revealed the product at the CES 2023. The final product was an all-electric concept car called the BMW I Vision Dee, a vehicle that blends the real and virtual worlds for its occupants.

Starting with the design, the I Vision Dee follows gets some of the design elements previously seen on BMW’s I Vision Circular concept revealed in 2021 such as the wide enclosed grille and minimalist design. The enclosed grille is wide – not tall as seen on recent new BMWs – and stretches from the centre all the way to the edges. The blanked-out panel also integrates the headlights of concept. The front bumper features sleek and smooth surfaces with little else of note.

Moving to the sides the clean and minimalist design carries forward. The doors lack physical door handles while the window line retains the Hofmeister kink at the rear- a design feature on all BMW sedans. The standout element however is the glasshouse itself which doubles up as a display showcasing a digital avatar of the driver along with a welcome message when approaching the driver door with the key in your pocket. Down the rear the bumper too features a simple and clean design with the rear light cluster with the lights themselves hidden within a body-coloured panel.

Speaking of colours, the Dee gets the latest development in BMW’s E Ink. The tech, which debuted on the BMW iX Flow concept – it could only change colours between black and white – lets users cycle through up to 32 colours for the exterior.

Coming to the interior, the minimalism theme continues with all the relevant in-car information such as the instrument cluster, infotainment and more displayed across the breadth of the windshield – BMW calls it its Advanced heads-up Display and it will go into production on its Neue Klasse models from 2025. The dashboard lacks any physical buttons with a simple slider located on the centre console. The Mixed Reality Slider controls the level of information displayed on the heads-up display in five increasing steps. Step five offers an augmented-reality projection that works in parallel with dimmable windows to create a virtual world around occupants.

BMW did not provide any powertrain details for the all-electric concept though it said that it will provide further glimpses of the vehicle concept of the Neue Klasse through 2023.