We’re still hours away from BMW’s presentation at CES but we already have the first videos of the promised color-changing paint that the German carmaker promised earlier. It looks like this is indeed able to change the car’s color at the touch of a button, but we don’t quite comprehend this technology’s utility, beyond playing pranks on police officers.
BMW is revealing the new iX M60 in Las Vegas today and we are looking forward to the German carmaker’s presentation. Until then, we marvel at the videos showing BMW’s new color-changing paint in action and we must say it is marvelous. This looks exactly like the promised “technology that changes the exterior color of a vehicle with the touch of a button,” but as mesmerizing as it is, we fail to grasp the meaning of this breakthrough.
As we know, most people prefer their cars to be either white or gray, so we give credit to BMW they got this right. The clips shared on social media show how the car changes color from bright white to dark gray and back in a matter of seconds. We have to admit, had BMW not pledged to show something like this at CES we would’ve thought this is a fake CGI video like many others shared on social media these days. But it happens to be real and confirmed by many people who witnessed the chameleonic behavior.
The guy who uploaded the video below claims the paint is highly sensitive to temperature changes, so it might not work in all conditions. If we are to guess, we see a temperature-sensitive paint in action, like the ones from the thermometer bands, and this kind of explains the latticework that you can observe at some point in one of the videos when the car turns gray. BMW prepared a backup car to show in case the first one gets too warm or too cold for the trick to work.
Not all the technologies presented at CES make it to the market and we sure don’t see this one do. Apart from the legal issues posed by a car changing its color, there is nothing useful about this feature. That is if you’re not a smuggler or a bank robber who wants to change the color of your car in a middle of a car chase. In that case, a number-changing number plate would help too and we expect BMW to deliver on that.
As we know, most people prefer their cars to be either white or gray, so we give credit to BMW they got this right. The clips shared on social media show how the car changes color from bright white to dark gray and back in a matter of seconds. We have to admit, had BMW not pledged to show something like this at CES we would’ve thought this is a fake CGI video like many others shared on social media these days. But it happens to be real and confirmed by many people who witnessed the chameleonic behavior.
The guy who uploaded the video below claims the paint is highly sensitive to temperature changes, so it might not work in all conditions. If we are to guess, we see a temperature-sensitive paint in action, like the ones from the thermometer bands, and this kind of explains the latticework that you can observe at some point in one of the videos when the car turns gray. BMW prepared a backup car to show in case the first one gets too warm or too cold for the trick to work.
Not all the technologies presented at CES make it to the market and we sure don’t see this one do. Apart from the legal issues posed by a car changing its color, there is nothing useful about this feature. That is if you’re not a smuggler or a bank robber who wants to change the color of your car in a middle of a car chase. In that case, a number-changing number plate would help too and we expect BMW to deliver on that.
This color changing @BMWUSA #iX is wild! It’s apparently very temperature sensitive so they have a backup in a trailer in case this one gets too hot / cold pic.twitter.com/lXG1Gw0IKY
— Out of Spec Studios (@Out_of_Spec) January 4, 2022