<p>German carmaker BMW has unveiled the world's first "colour-changing" car at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.</p>.<p>The concept car, called the BMW iX Flow, uses electronic ink technology normally found in e-readers to transform the car's exterior into a variety of patterns in gray and white.</p>.<p>"This is really energy efficient colour change using the technology E Ink," said BMW research engineer Stella Clarke. "So we took this material - it's kind of a thick paper - and our challenge was to get this on a 3D object like our cars."</p>.<p>When stimulated by electrical signals controlled by a phone app, the material brings different pigments to the surface, causing the car to take on a different shade or design, such as racing stripes.</p>.<p>In the future, the changes would also be controlled by a button on the car's dashboard or perhaps even by hand gestures, Clarke said.</p>.<p>No energy is needed to maintain the colour the driver selects, according to BMW.</p>.<p>"My favourite use case is the use of colour to influence sunlight reflections," said Clarke. "On a hot, sunny day like today, you could switch the colour white to reflect sunlight. On a cold day, you could switch it black to absorb the heat."</p>.<p>Though the vehicle displayed at CES could only alternate between gray and white, the technology will be expanded to cover a spectrum of colour, according to BMW.</p>.<p><strong>Watch the latest DH Videos here:</strong></p>
<p>German carmaker BMW has unveiled the world's first "colour-changing" car at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.</p>.<p>The concept car, called the BMW iX Flow, uses electronic ink technology normally found in e-readers to transform the car's exterior into a variety of patterns in gray and white.</p>.<p>"This is really energy efficient colour change using the technology E Ink," said BMW research engineer Stella Clarke. "So we took this material - it's kind of a thick paper - and our challenge was to get this on a 3D object like our cars."</p>.<p>When stimulated by electrical signals controlled by a phone app, the material brings different pigments to the surface, causing the car to take on a different shade or design, such as racing stripes.</p>.<p>In the future, the changes would also be controlled by a button on the car's dashboard or perhaps even by hand gestures, Clarke said.</p>.<p>No energy is needed to maintain the colour the driver selects, according to BMW.</p>.<p>"My favourite use case is the use of colour to influence sunlight reflections," said Clarke. "On a hot, sunny day like today, you could switch the colour white to reflect sunlight. On a cold day, you could switch it black to absorb the heat."</p>.<p>Though the vehicle displayed at CES could only alternate between gray and white, the technology will be expanded to cover a spectrum of colour, according to BMW.</p>.<p><strong>Watch the latest DH Videos here:</strong></p>