BMW unveils a smart and stupendously powerful concept car

BMW has presented its brawniest and brainiest prototype to date at Auto Shanghai in China, the world’s biggest car show.

Boasting an astonishing torque output of 18,000Nm, the BMW Vision Driving Experience (VDX) is a concept car that has been undergoing testing on roads and racetracks in recent months. It showcases technology to be featured in the German brand’s next-generation Neue Klasse electric vehicles, including the new iX3 and 3 Series.

It boasts a lightning-fast “Heart of Joy” control computer, which works in conjunction with the BMW Dynamic Performance Control software stack to centrally calculate all driving dynamics functions.

With this new super brain, the VDX converts the ultimate electric power into controlled driving pleasure, says BMW customer, brands and sales manager Jochen Goller.

“The first all-electric Neue Klasse vehicles will roll off the production line at the Debrecen plant in Hungary from the end of the year. The Heart of Joy central computer, which ensures a new level of precision and driving dynamics, will be fitted as standard in every Neue Klasse vehicle.”

With its combined torque of up to 18,000Nm from four electric motors — one for each wheel — the VDX is described as the fastest test rig in the world. It’s a mobile laboratory that pushes the Heart of Joy and BMW Dynamic Performance Control — both developed in-house by BMW — to their limits.

With active aerodynamics, the concept car develops a downforce up to of 1.2 tonnes and lateral forces of up to 3G — on a par with Formula 1 and far beyond the requirements of regular road cars. BMW says that if the hardware and software can tame the brute forces of the test rig, they will easily cope with the demands of everyday use.

The Heart of Joy is the central computer responsible for driving, braking, recharging through recuperation and some steering functions. It enables 98% of braking operations to be carried out using brake energy regeneration — a 25% increase in efficiency compared to today’s architectures. The vehicle can also be brought to a standstill more smoothly than before.

Though the VDX is only a test rig, BMW says its exterior is based on the design language of the Vision Neue Klasse with a monolithic-looking body, powerful wheel arches, recessed greenhouse and “shark nose” front end. It has a new interpretation of the characteristic BMW radiator grille and twin headlights with a striking, three-dimensional light signature.

For Auto Shanghai, the concept car, which had previously been covered in camouflage, was given an innovative self-illuminating paint finish. The paint has light-sensitive pigments that recharge in daylight. In the dark, the colour varies from a whitish yellow to an expressive neon yellow, depending on the state of charge.