Current:Home > BackLike Tesla and BMW, Toyota plans to allow drivers to easily change car color-InfoLens
Like Tesla and BMW, Toyota plans to allow drivers to easily change car color
View Date:2024-12-23 12:01:16
Toyota is following in the footsteps of Tesla and BMW and hoping to allow its customers to easily change the color of their cars.
The automobile company started creating the technology to make that happen in 2022, but officially published it in the United States Patent and Trademark Office on March 19. The patent allows drivers to freely change the color of their car, Toyota recently told USA TODAY.
Ditching vinyl wraps and painting jobs, the motor company plans to use the technology that can change colors when in heat or exposed to light. To achieve a desired look, vehicles will have to go through a tunnel-like garage where the paint is heated and a color-modulator device sprays them.
When the patent is available to the public, drivers can request the treatment either when they buy a new car or if they already have a car that they want to change colors., the company said.
Here is a picture of Toyota's patent:
Tesla's software changes car color instantly
If you thought the basic white color of a Tesla was boring, you can change the color of your Tesla from inside of your car. In February 2022, the automaker announced a new software update that would enable its drivers to change their car color with a variety of options displayed on the screen.
Car Colorizer, the feature that changes the color of a Tesla, can be completed on the screen in the car or through the Tesla app, a company news release said.
With the color wheel to change a Tesla to any color imaginable, the software has various paint finishes. From solid, metallic to matte, a Tesla driver can change their paint color any way they want to at anytime.
“You can hate on Teslas all you want, but I bet your car cannot do this,” an Instagram user said while showing off his Tesla that he changed from white to matte red.
BMW released its color-changing technology last year
BMW released its color-changing technology at the Consumer Electronics Show in May 2022. The show, held in Las Vegas, unveiled the BMW iX Flow featuring E Ink. The BMW iX Flow is of capable of changing color at the click of a button, according to a news release by BMW.
“This gives the driver the freedom to express different facets of their personality or even their enjoyment of change outwardly, and to redefine this each time they sit in their car,” Stella Clarke, head of project for the BMW iX Flow, said in a statement. “Similar to fashion or the status ads on social media channels, the vehicle then becomes an expression of different moods and circumstances in daily life.”
In an Instagram post, Alexandra Mary Hirsch, better known as Supercar.Blondie, demonstrated how the color technology in the BMW iX Flow works. In the settings mode of the app, the all-electric SUV can be changed from white to black with the click of a button.
In addition, the BMW iX Flow can display two colors at once circling around the vehicle with its wave mode.
“This is not a light reflection. This is actually changing paint,” Hirsch said in the post. “So cool.”
Ahjané Forbes is a reporter on the National Trending Team at USA TODAY. Ahjané covers breaking news, car recalls, crime, health, lottery and public policy stories. Email her at [email protected]. Follow her on Instagram, Threads and X @forbesfineest.
Jenna Hecker is a Video Producer at USA TODAY.
Best used SUVs in 2024:Subaru, Toyota among reliable picks across the price spectrum
veryGood! (9)
Related
- Amazon Best Books of 2024 revealed: Top 10 span genres but all 'make you feel deeply'
- Meals on Wheels rolling at 50, bringing food, connections, sunshine to seniors
- Tia Mowry Shares Update on Her Dating Life After Cory Hardrict Divorce
- New York Liberty end Las Vegas Aces' three-peat bid, advance to WNBA Finals
- Rare Alo Yoga Flash Sale: Don’t Miss 60% Off Deals With Styles as Low as $5
- SpaceX launch: Europe's Hera spacecraft on way to study asteroid Dimorphos
- US court to review civil rights lawsuit alleging environmental racism in a Louisiana parish
- Bear with 3 cubs attacks man after breaking into Colorado home
- Black women notch historic Senate wins in an election year defined by potential firsts
- Padres-Dodgers playoff game spirals into delay as Jurickson Profar target of fan vitriol
Ranking
- Homes of Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce burglarized, per reports
- The Biden administration isn’t extending a two-year program for migrants from 4 nations
- Ahead of hurricane strike, Floridians should have a plan, a supply kit and heed evacuation advice
- Erin Foster’s Dad David Foster Has Priceless to Reaction to Her Show Nobody Wants This
- Keke Palmer Says Ryan Murphy “Ripped” Into Her Over Scream Queens Schedule
- A Michigan Senate candidate aims to achieve what no Republican has done in three decades
- Supreme Court rejects Republican-led challenge to ease voter registration
- Two boys, ages 12 and 13, charged in assault on ex-New York Gov. David Paterson and stepson
Recommendation
-
Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow's Son Moses Martin Reveals His Singing Talents at Concert
-
Kansas City small businesses thank Taylor Swift for economic boom: 'She changed our lives'
-
Harris talks abortion and more on ‘Call Her Daddy’ podcast as Democratic ticket steps up interviews
-
Weekend wildfires lead to 1 death, large areas burned in western North Dakota
-
Elon Musk says 'SNL' is 'so mad' Trump won as he slams Dana Carvey's impression
-
Could Naturally Occurring Hydrogen Underground Be a Gusher of Clean Energy in Alaska?
-
Meals on Wheels rolling at 50, bringing food, connections, sunshine to seniors
-
Madonna Speaks Out About Brother Christopher Ciccone's Death After Years of Feuding