THE NEXT 100 YEARS: BMW Group Vision Vehicles bring future mobility to life today
<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SBaR0oqjWIo?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>The BMW Group has now made its vision for the future a reality – with the BMW VISION NEXT 100. This vehicle combines coupé-type sportiness with the dynamic elegance of a sedan – but rather than being an anonymous transport machine, it is a highly customised vehicle that is perfectly tailored to suit the driver’s changing needs.
Driver-vehicle interactions are managed by Alive Geometry; Boost and Ease modes offer a choice of driver-controlled or vehicle-controlled operations, and the interior of the vehicle changes to suit the mode of travel. In Boost, the entire vehicle focuses on the driver, offering the support needed to maximise the driving experience – for instance by indicating the ideal driving line, steering point and speed. Ease mode sees the interior transform: the steering wheel and centre console retract; the headrests turn to the side, and the seats and door trim merge to form a single unit so that the driver and front-seat passenger can turn towards each other.
“If, as a designer, you are able to imagine something, there’s a good chance it could one day become reality,” said Adrian van Hooydonk, Head of BMW Group Design. “So our objective with the BMW VISION NEXT 100 was to develop a future scenario that people would engage with.”
Sheer Driving Pleasure of the future – What will it look like? Over the coming years, mobility will become increasingly diverse. In the not-too-distant future, most vehicles will probably be completely self-driving – people will get around in robots on wheels. So, given these developments, how will we justify the existence of vehicles by BMW, a brand for whom the individual and Sheer Driving Pleasure are the focus of everything? And how will BMW’s brand values translate into the future?
In developing the BMW VISION NEXT 100, the main objective was to create not an anonymous vehicle but one that is highly personalised and fully geared to meet the driver’s every need – because the very emotional connection between a BMW and its driver is something we want to retain. For the BMW VISION NEXT 100, the design team specifically took into account all the trends and technological developments that will be most relevant to BMW in the decades ahead. But they also took many of their cues from innovations and designs of the past.
