The Boost mode can aid the driver — by highlighting the ideal driving line, possible turning point, or warning of potential obstacles — through intuitive feedback via the head-up display and Alive Geometry functions while the Ease mode makes for a more pleasurable traveling scenario with a focus on relaxation. The vehicle’s focus changes depending on the driving mode, concentrating on essentials for the driver in Boost mode and the surroundings and atmosphere in Ease mode.
In Boost mode, the entire vehicle focuses on the driver, offering support to maximize the driving experience. The seat and steering wheel change position and the center console moves to become more strongly oriented toward the driver, who interacts with the vehicle via gesture control. Thanks to connectivity, intelligent sensors and permanent data exchange, the head up display generates a digital image of the vehicle’s surroundings, which is a welcome feature when driving in inclement weather.
The transition to Ease mode brings with it a complete change of interior ambience. The steering wheel and center console retract and the headrests move to one side to create a relaxed atmosphere, with the head-up display offering occupants personalized information and entertainment. The seats and door panels merge to form a single unit, allowing the driver and passengers to sit at a slight angle towards each other in a more relaxed position.
Alive Geometry is more discreet in its movements but still present in the Ease mode, informing occupants about the road ahead and any acceleration and braking maneuvers that are about to happen.
BMW says transitioning between the two modes is “perfectly orchestrated”, but we’ve yet to see it in practice.
Artificial Intelligence
Vehicles are well on their way to becoming fully connected. Like it or not we’re in an age where people require more comfort and convenience than ever before, and not solely in their seating or interior environments. Digital technology is permeating into our everyday lives and finding its way inside the vehicle space more so than ever before. Soon cars will be doing the driving for us.
So how does BMW envisage the future for drivers? With increasing digitalization, the physical and digital worlds will merge and artificial intelligence will become the next logical frontier. The technology embedded in our homes, products and vehicles will learn from us, anticipating many of our wishes and working away in the background to perform the jobs we delegate. The way humans and technologies interact will be transformed: more intuitive forms of human-machine communication and interaction will replace screens and touchscreens. Technology will become more human.
That’s good news for the driver, and where BMW’s Ultimate Driving Machine tagline takes a directional shift. BMW proposes that a vehicle will learn from their drivers/owners, preempt potential errors and correct them, or maximize a user’s input for an enhanced sensory experience behind the wheel. In short, BMW aims to create the Ultimate Driver, not just the ultimate driving machine.
Emotion
Driving a BMW has always been about looking to the next bend in the road, feeling the power of the engine and enjoying the sense of speed; it’s a fully immersive sensory experience, an adrenaline rush or that intimate moment at which journey begins.
The Vision Next 100’s exterior design is a blend of coupé and a sedan. At 4900mm long and 1370mm high, it is slightly shorter than the 7 Series yet offers more interior space than BMW’s luxury sedan. The large wheels are positioned at the outer edges of the body, giving the vehicle a dynamic stance that is a trademark of BMW whilst also improving cabin space.
When it comes to aerodynamics, Alive Geometry also contributes to an outstanding effect: when the wheels swivel as the vehicle is steered, the bodywork keeps them covered as if it were a flexible skin, accommodating their various positions. The innovative design gives the concept an extremely low drag coefficient of 0.18.
The exterior of the vehicle is copper in color, designed to underscore the idea that BMW vehicles of the future should appear technical yet still have a warmth about them — as symbolized by the close links between the vehicle and its driver.
This relationship begins as soon as the driver approaches the vehicle: intelligent sensor technologies automatically open its wing doors. To give the driver more space to enter and exit, the steering wheel is flush with the dashboard. Once seated, tapping on the BMW logo in the middle of the dashboard activates the full range of systems. When the door closes, the steering wheel comes forward and the driving experience begins.
The emotional experience of mobility is firmly fixed in BMW’s collective corporate memory, and the company assures us that’s not that’s not set to change. By keeping the driver firmly in the foreground, the Next 100 concept will only heighten this emotional experience.
New Materials
In designing the BMW Vision Next 100, the starting point was the interior. In the years ahead, the driver’s wellbeing will become increasingly important, and rather than merely feeling they are in a machine that drives itself, they should sense that they are sitting in one that was specifically designed for them. This idea gave rise to an architecture in which the cab seems particularly spacious compared with the overall size of the vehicle while retaining the typical exterior lines of a BMW.
With rapid prototyping and rapid manufacturing gaining in importance, the complex and flexible forms of the Alive Geometry system’s tiny triangles could be made using 4D printing processes, which adds a fourth level to 3D printed components: the functional one. BMW contends that printed parts manufactured in this way will directly integrate functions that have to be designed and produced separately before being incorporated into the whole today.
The Vision Next 100 interior is primarily created from fabrics made from recycled or renewable materials. The visible and non-visible carbon components, such as the side panels, are made from residues from normal carbon fiber production. BMW contends that the choice of materials will become even more important throughout the production process in the future.
With time, other new materials will also be added into the mix, allowing different vehicle shapes to emerge. To save resources and support more sustainable manufacturing, wood and leather will be used less while innovative materials and the consequent new possibilities in design and production gradually come to the fore. This approach is exemplified though the use of high-quality textiles and easily recyclable mono-materials and the elimination of leather in the concept’s interior.
While the Geneva motor show press days have come and gone and the BMW stand had nothing but a tired static photo of BMW Welt and a long wheelbase version of its trusted 7 Series steed on show, the unveiling of the Vision Next 100 concept signals that the company hasn’t forgotten about its core customer base as it looks into its crystal ball to predict the brand’s future direction.
