BMW: A Window into the Near Future

To create awareness of the innovative BMW i Tour, BMW partnered with its agency Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal + Partners (kbs+) to introduce a new technology invention - A Window into the Near Future.  Building off the success of BMW’s EVolve app, a digital innovation that helps drivers understand the performance of all-electric vehicles, the BMW i Window is helping individuals visualise the future of mobility with BMW i vehicles. 

 

This week, a new window along New York City's Sixth Avenue will enchant passersby by transforming live traffic into BMW i3 and i8 concept vehicles using sophisticated car tracking technology that matches the movement and cadence of passing vehicles.  For a realistic effect, the BMW i Window is specially designed to mirror the street, weather and scenery conditions.

 

Although the images appear futuristic, the projection represents a portrait of what the city’s streets could look in as soon as one-to-two years when the BMW i3 and i8 become available.  Furthermore, it is designed to enhance viewers’ knowledge about electric vehicles by displaying compelling stats describing the environmental impact of actually replacing passing cars with BMW electric vehicles.

 

View a video of the experience below:

 

 

The BMW i Window uses three state-of-the-art cameras – including one positioned 35 feet in the air – a 3M Vikuiti projection screen, two 40,000 lumen projectors and car tracking technology to maintain its life-size mirror illusion.  In designing and building the window, the kbs+ team developed new software and techniques to refine the tracking technology to be able to accurately capture the behaviours of oncoming traffic and ensure all background imagery matches what’s happening in real time, from the weather, to the colour of leaves on the trees, to the sidewalks.