Just over two years ago, at the CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas, BMW presented a technology via which a vehicle's colour could be changed according to mood, wish or need.
Toyota recently filed a patent application for something similar, for a technology that would show a car’s paint finish in one colour, but which could be changed with a visit to the dealership.
The application was filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on March 19, but was first filed in 2022, indicating that the automaker has been working on this for some time.
The technology, as mentioned, could allow owners to change the colour of their vehicle to keep it up-to-date with trends, or just for the fun of it. Dealers could also change the colour of certain vehicles they're having trouble selling, or to accommodate buyers who want a particular shade.
And how would it all work? We're not talking about a wrap, but rather a paint finish capable of changing its hues in response to heat and light. The procedure is described in the application and explains that a vehicle would be driven into a garage equipped with tunnel-shaped heating elements that would surround it on all sides. When the paint surface is heated, a light-emitting “colour modulator” device passes over it to complete the transformation.
This could be controlled by a human or a robot, according to Toyota. It could communicate with a server as well as with temperature sensors built into the vehicle's bodywork to determine the correct settings for a specific colour, depending on the customer’s wishes.
Will we ever see this? It’s certainly possible, and we can imagine plenty of circumstances in which it would be fun to change the colour of one's vehicle. However, this will have to be supervised, as anyone who has committed a "crime" with their vehicle could also change its colour to escape justice.