The ongoing 2023 Consumer Electronics Show is home to many exciting debuts in the tech sector. BMW is in Las Vegas with the i Vision Dee concept, which serves as a technological preview of the brand’s next-generation electric vehicles. Among the new gadgets in the car is a massive head-up display that spans the entire width of the windscreen. It turns out BMW is serious about replacing the conventional screens in its cars with big HUDs and the company’s CEO even believes the days of the big screens integrated into the dashboards are numbered.
Speaking during a media press conference at the 2023 CES, Oliver Zipse said he is “absolutely convinced” the large center-console-based screens will soon disappear. Zipse sees them as a massive distraction for drivers and that even regulations could force the automakers to change their interior designs and abandon the displays as a solution. “In 10 years, that is gone,” Zipse told media representatives.
Gallery: 2023 BMW i Vision Dee concept
That’s a pretty bold statement, though. It seems that BMW wants to revolutionize the industry with its new head-up display technology but we don’t know how the consumers are going to respond to this new tech. Its first application in production vehicles will come with the Neue Klasse models starting in the middle of the decade. The first to launch from this new generation of models will be a sedan and a crossover.
The HUD in the i Vision Dee concept has advantages, that’s for sure. "With our technology, everyone in the car can see the same information, even the people in the back," BMW design boss Domagoj Dukec told Automotive News just recently. Oliver Zipse, in turn, added that this new system is a “quantum leap in terms of design, technology, and sustainability,” also referring to the Neue Klasse-based electric vehicles.
We like BMW’s understanding that “if you have to look down to operate your car, we think it’s a big mistake.” But with the growing demand for vehicles with bigger and more displays on board, we are not quite sure the industry is ready to abandon that trend in just 10 years from now.
