2016 might mark a tidy century in business for BMW, but in typical Munich style the company is celebrating by looking forward rather than back. At its Bavarian headquarters on Monday — on its actual 100th birthday — Bayerische Motoren Werke AG rolled out what it’s calling the Vision Next 100, a concept car so bold in its ideas that it’s difficult to conceive a time when they might actually become a reality.
Not that it means they’re altogether outrageous. This Bavarian batmobile features an entire windshield dedicated to augmented reality (or entertainment, if needs be), moveable wheel housings, optional self-driving mode, shape-changing seats, and the ‘Companion,’ an exotic looking crystal object at the base of the windshield that represents the car’s intelligence and connectivity, communicating with the driver about outside conditions and offering advice when needed.
It’s a kind of giddy madness, conceived when the future of the automobile could lie in any number of directions or combination thereof, whether it be autonomous cars or even ride sharing.
The car industry is of course ripe for disruption right now: Tesla is kicking goals with its all electric fleet and Google is looking to do away with drivers altogether. Even Apple is rumored to be getting in the game — a sure sign that the industry is set to change forever.
Either way, if all that innovation means rocking up to the year 2100 in something like this, we can dig.
(via ASKMEN)
