A look at the new BMW i3s in augmented reality with Apple’s ARKit

Earlier this year, BMW unveiled its new 2018 i3 electric car with a small design refresh and new sport package.

Today we get to take a look at the new EV with a twist – through augmented reality with BMW’s new app using Apple’s ARKit.

Earlier this year, Apple officially unveiled its new ARKit platform. It enables developers to take advantage of all the augmented reality capabilities of all of Apple’s most recent devices.

Several automakers are seeing a potential for augmented reality to complement their retail experience with the ability to see a vehicle virtually anywhere and explore it in detail while being able to change its configuration at the touch of a screen.

BMW was one of the first to jump on the opportunity earlier this year with their app BMW i Visualiser. They have now updated it with the latest versions of their BMW i3 and i8.

It’s still the early days of augmented reality, especially in handheld devices, but I was fairly impressed.

I made a quick video about taking a look at the new BMW i3s:

As we reported earlier this year, we weren’t impressed by the 2018 update on the i3. It still has the same 33 kWh battery pack, which enables roughly 124 miles of range, and the design refresh is minimal. The vehicle is reportedly now at US dealership, but it’s not being delivered because of the current stop sale on all i3 models.

But I do like the app – though that’s maybe more a compliment to Apple’s new augmented reality tools than to BMW.

You can also check out the regular (non-sports package) BMW i3 and the BMW i8 on the application.

By the way, Tesla hasn’t jumped on board the augmented reality train yet, but fans have produced third-party apps for the Model 3 similar to what BMW launched this week.

It does look like a glimpse of the future of car retail.

What do you think? Let us know in the comment section below.