Munich, Germany, July 5 — Over the recent months, German automotive manufacturer BMW released a series of highly interesting product concepts. This strongly supports a diversification strategy and their intention to further build out their electric drives and motivation to build emission-free vehicles.
Amongst the new concepts you can find a boat drive, a curiously styled scooter, and a smart transportation solution that supports their internal logistics of BMW manufacturing.
BMW tech goes boating
BMW supplies i3 batteries to Torqeedo, a German company for marine drive systems. They are currently testing the options for electric propulsion systems for boats. The Torqeedo Deep Blue drives can be hybrid or pure electric systems and they are commonly installed in boats between 1 and 160 HP, may it be a sailing yacht or commercial transportation solutions like a water taxi or ferries.
BMW Motorrad concept “Link”
This futuristic looking scooter-like vehicle is powered by an E-drive and it’s design was inspired by the BMW Motorrad Vision Next 100. The Link design decisions were based on future users much more than the users of today. They were thinking about the requirements of future urban mobility and the user’s digital needs for connectivity as well.
Automated material trains
There are 10 autonomous self-driving Smart Transport Robots (STR) deployed at the Wackersdorf plant of BMW. The smart logistics helpers support the workflows of the workers by driving valuable components around the facilities. The STRs run on pre-used BMW i3 batteries can carry up to 500 kilograms (1102.31 pounds) of payload. A future version of these “trains” is planned to include a 3D camera for even better navigation.
Summary
Concepts are always interesting. Especially when major companies show how they imagine their future products to look like. Some of these might never become an actual product that is sold to the masses but perhaps some of these will become reality.
The transportation robots for improved logistics are very likely to be a part of the BMW manufacturing operations in my opinion. Using BMW energy solutions in water transportation is also a possibility. However, I am unsure if we are going to see the Link scooter hit the retailers. What do you think? Check out the video with all three solutions and share your opinion below!
YouTube: 3 Interesting New BMW Concepts
Photo credit: BMW
Source: BMW press release 1 / 2 / 3
