ROME – In a future that is actually already present we will be able to change the color of our car with the power of thought. From blue to red, from red to green as we like. At BMW the experiment has already been successful in recent days at the Munich plant on the occasion of the rad ° hub, a platform around which, since 2016, influencers, opinion makers, thinkers and visionaries of various kinds have met.
However, we have to take a small step back and precisely at the Consumer Electronics Show 2022 in Las Vegas, where the BMW iX Flow with E Ink was presented last January, a car capable of changing the body color with the push of a button. . This was already a beautiful and good revolution, which, however, was not enough for the Bavarian engineers. “We have already made further improvements,” explains Stella Clarke, project manager. “Previously, color changes only occurred with a smooth transition. Now the control electronics have been fine-tuned to allow for instant transformations, with an even more visual effect. more surprising “.
And since we know, the appetite comes with eating, why not try to replace the button with the power of thought? So here’s another actor: brainboost, a German startup that, thanks to the use of neurotechnology, connected the BMW iX Flow directly to the brains of the participants using an electroencephalogram (EEG) that records the electrical activity of the brain. “The color patterns of the iX Flow react to brain activity and reflect its activity level,” explains Philipp Heiler, CEO of brainboost. “Once the brain is at rest, the changes in the designs on the iX Flow also become calmer and more regular “. Bingo.
However, it remains to be explained how a car can change color, whether with a button or with brain impulses. The secret lies in the body of the iX Flow, which is coated with a special film containing millions of color capsules. “When stimulated by electrical impulses, the negatively charged white pigments or the positively charged black pigments collect on the surface, thus changing the external color”, they say in BMW. “With the ability to change the body color and display different patterns, the iX Flow with E Ink opens up a whole new way to personalize your experience behind the wheel”. Easier than that …