Dream Machines

Cars flash their tech cred at this year's Consumer Electronics Show, offering insights into the future of the automobile industry.

- RICHARD NG

It is telling that cars are now increasingly featured at the CES — formerly known as the Consumer Electronics Show, one of the planet’s biggest tech showcases. Exhibitors big and small show off the latest and greatest electronics, automobiles, and other gadgetry — some of which do not make it to market, but we can dream.

This year’s automotive highlights luxury marques’ commitment to pushing technological boundaries — BMW’s futuristic, colour-shifting i Vision Dee being a notable example.

BMW’S I VISION DEE

Designed to be a “digital companion”, the i Vision Dee wants to be your friend. It displays its personality through its colour-shifting exterior. E-Ink technology is deployed via 240 electrophoretic panels spread across the car’s body, which can be individually or collectively controlled for a kaleidoscope of 32 colours.

Other innovations include the sedan’s ability to, well, emote using a combination of headlights and closed kidney grilles, akin to facial expressions. Perhaps even more impressive is its windscreen, which provides drivers with the option of projecting vital data, such as directions, vehicle speed, and the latest in social media via an augmented-reality heads-up display directly onto their windshields. The i Vision Dee isn’t your typical cartographically challenged front-seat passenger, fumbling with a printed map.