BMW is without a doubt one of the most innovative automotive brands. Superior quality, mind a distinctive design, pill and a true driving experience that is unequalled all go hand-in-hand. The manufacturers of the top German brand mostly devote a great deal of attention to optimizing the level of comfort. With the aid of software and projection techniques developed by deLight, BMW hopes to be able to elevate the quality of the entertainment system in its cars to an even higher plane.

“Our division concentrates on increasing the general feeling of well-being of both the driver as well as the passengers,” Irene Kamp of BMW explains. “To achieve this goal, we mostly focus on the perception of the car’s interior. The perception of comfort in the broadest sense of the word is at the heart of this. The entertainment system plays an important role in the perception of comfort.”

BMW’s know-how in the automotive industry coupled with deLight’s expertise in the field of 3D-software and projection technology appeared to be an excellent match.

Reinforcing comfort image

Kamp, who studied Industrial Design at the TU Delft, works in the BMW’s Comfort division. In a close partnership with the Design division, her department works on innovative concepts which are intended to boost BMW’s comfort image even further. The initial contact between BMW and deLight was made via a TU Delft professor who supervised Kamp during her doctoral research period. Kamp summarizes the setting prior to the kick-off of a brainstorming session at BMW: “BMW is always up for new things, and we heard that deLight had interesting 3D projection technology at its disposal.”

A multitude of application possibilities

“deLight came to this session very well-prepared. Using various videos and a presentation, they sketched for us the broad range of application possibilities for the 3D projection technology,” Kamp says. “This varied from a generic concept to attract more visitors to a trade show booth, to conceptual angles for accelerating the design process, for example.” This time-savings is realistic since 3D projection technology can help make the effect of changing materials or colors visible very quickly. According to Kamp, BMW was mostly impressed by the possibility to improve the perception passengers sitting in the back seat of the car had of the entertainment system.

The people at deLight are great at brainstorming, and pro-actively offer solutions for parts of the problem. Their expertise in the field of 3D software and projection technology is extremely valuable for further optimizing the concept.

Joint development project

“BMW’s know-how in the automotive industry coupled with deLight’s expertise in the field of 3D-software and projection techniques appeared to be an excellent match,” according to Kamp. The brainstorming session thus became the point of departure for a joint development project that ultimately resulted in installing built-in cameras and software developed by deLight in a BMW. “In July of 2011, we brought this car prepped by deLight from Delft to Germany , where we are now working on optimizing the entertainment concept and determining the models it would be suitable for.”

Good cooperation

Kamp is hopeful that the concept will be suitable for mass production in 2014. According to the industrial designer, if this doesn’t happen, it will not be because of the cooperation with deLight. “The people at deLight are great at brainstorming, and pro-actively offer solutions for parts of the problem. Their expertise in the field of 3D software and projection technology is extremely valuable for further optimizing the concept.”