"We've gone full colour": BMW wows CES with new chameleon car in 32 shades

The German luxury automaker first unveiled its colour-changing E Ink technology at CES last year, but the colour range was limited to black, white and grey. For this year's show, the engineers at BMW have gone "full colour," showing off their i Vision Dee prototype car that can morph into 32 colours and form striking patterns.

"We've gone full colour. So, from black and white, now we have again a world first, but this time full colour changing car. And it is E ink. So, it still has the advantages of being true colour and thus it looks great in sunlight," explained Stella Clarke, an engineer and BMW's E Ink project leader.

The i Vision Dee car has 240 separate colour cells that can change individually. In one moment, the prototype can go from a light green shade, then dark purple, then red with white racing stripes.

To do this, BMW is using E ink technology, which is normally found in e-readers. When stimulated by electrical signals, the material brings different pigments to the surface, causing the car to take on a different colour or design, such as racing stripes.

And BMW's latest colour-changing has been a hit with visitors at CES.

"I've seen it on TV and I didn't believe it's true until you kind of see it in person. It's something that I don't even know. It's kind of impressive that the... You know, last year it was just two colours, and now you can see it in a variety of colours. And it's something I'd drive, for sure," said Arlington Brewbaker, a tech enthusiast from New Mexico.

"Yeah. Super exciting. Looks fantastic. Love it. I was here last year and saw the original colour-changing car, it was just black and white. This one looks a lot better and I'd definitely get one," added James Wagoner, a CES visitor from Seattle.

No energy is needed to maintain the colour the driver selects, according to BMW.

Reuters