World's first chameleon car, the BMW iX Flow, is unveiled

 It showed off how a car's exterior could effectively become ePaper which, changes colour or generates patterns when charged with a small electric current.

Its "iX Flow" technology uses electronic ink technology, which is similar to that which powers e-book readers and covers the car in millions of tiny microcapsules.

At the touch of a button, a driver can change the shade of the car's exterior,allowing the colour to shift between black and white or even light and dark stripes by activating electronic ink in the wraparound shell.

According to BMW, the effect is created by applying an electrical charge to microcapsules – which contain particles of white and black pigments – suspended within a liquid encased in the wrap. Depending on whether a negative or positive charge is given, the colour changes, causing either white or black pigments to concentrate at the microcapsule's surface.

The project is still in its early stages, but it is intended to be more than cosmetic: changing to a light colour in hot weather or a dark colour in cold weather will reduce the amount of cooling and heating required inside the car, according to the company.

Currently, a chameleon car can only switch between grey and white, but the technology will be improved to cover a spectrum of colours, and in the future, the changes would also be controlled by a button on the car's dashboard or perhaps even by hand gestures, the company added. Moreover, according to the company, no energy is needed to maintain the colour the driver selects.