Celebrating BMW’s 100 year anniversary, Mini has unveiled their vision of the future mobility with the Mini Vision Next 100 concept. The key idea behind the Mini Vision Next 100 is responsible use of resources for personal mobility. The motto “Every Mini is my Mini” is about innovative car-sharing, with Mini fans of the future able to access and tailor any Mini to their own personal preferences, anywhere and at any time. The Mini will be available to everybody at all times, picking drivers up autonomously from wherever they like and adjusting the car’s appearance, driving characteristics and connectivity to suit the user’s personal lifestyle. New, customised mobility with the Mini Vision Next 100 builds on connected digital intelligence.
The Mini Vision Next 100 is wrapped in a discreet, silver skin. The Mini designers refer to it as a “blank canvas”. How that canvas is used varies according to the individual user, their mood and the situations they encounter. Even the colour of the roof and the lighting mood in the interior respond in kind. The Mini uses projections adapted to the driver in terms of colour, graphics and content to create a personalised experience and customised package of on-board information.
The Cooperizer is the name the Mini Vision Next 100 gives to the centrally- positioned circular instrument that has become such a signature feature of Mini cockpits. In the Mini Vision Next 100 it illuminates like a kaleidoscope. The colours and patterns it generates symbolise the car’s multi-faceted digital intelligence, which allows it to select a personalised setting for each driver, encompassing entertainment, communications and autonomous-driving options. On the move, the driver can influence the Cooperizer’s decision-making, as the rotary controls allow adjustments to the interior ambience and driving mode. So the car can be adapted to give a perfectly personalised driving experience, whether driven conventionally or autonomously.
Making responsible use of resources is key in the selection of materials for the Mini Vision Next 100. With the more intensive use of a shared car, interiors will need to be much more hard wearing. In addition to the modern materials made from recycled plastic and aluminium in the floor area, roof lining and side panel trim, for example, the Mini interior designers used materials less commonly found in car cabins, such as brass, basalt and cellulose. The wraparound carrier and information strip, with its mount for the sliding steering wheel, and the Cooperizer with its thin brass structure are good examples here. The designers made the storage net behind the steering wheel from lightweight basalt, while the lower section of the seat is trimmed in a recycled cellulose material similar to paper.
Autonomous driving plays an important role in the Mini Vision Next 100, allowing it to travel occupant-free to a charing station, cleaning service, parking space or the next user. To switch from driving themselves to autonomous driving, the user simply moves the steering wheel in the central area between themselves and the front passenger.
all images courtesy of BMW Group