The Blackbird is the car that can transform itself into any vehicle in the world

Vaughn Highfield June 28, 2016

Cars are expensive, no surprise there. Those costs rise, however, when you’re sourcing vehicles and appropriate locations to shoot movies, TV shows and adverts with cars in action. Things get even worse when you start crashing and blowing cars up up too – it’s one reason why CGI has taken off for car chases and crashes, it’s just too damn costly.

That’s where creative agency The Mill’s latest invention comes in, the Blackbird. The Blackbird isn’t your ordinary vehicle. Not only does it look something like a cross between an Aerial Atom and a deconstructed Batmobile, but it can actually transform itself into any car you want it to be.

The Mill made the Blackbird fully adjustable, able to extend its wheelbase by up to 4ft at the press of a button, and adjust its width by up to 10-inches. If that wasn’t enough, it’s battery-powered engine can subtly adjust car performance, handling and weight, giving it the characteristics of practically any car. It’s the perfect stand-in vehicle for filmmakers of the future.

The Blackbird also captures full 360-degree light data and imaging, allowing for pixel-perfect environment data for designers to reskin the vehicle with. That same information can be used to create AR or VR experiences, allowing people to sit inside a completely virtual car and enjoy the views. It’s because of this that the Blackbird isn’t just a valuable tool for advertisers and movie makers, it has the potential to be invaluable to VR content creators as well.

One reason why Blackbird is so convincing is because of The Mill’s past expertise in the automotive advertising sector. Many of the cars you see in car adverts today aren’t actually the cars you think they are. Many are stand-in vehicles of similar size and fit, perhaps last year’s model instead of the latest iteration. They’re used simply for reference and then companies – such as The Mill – digitally reskin them. It’s only natural that this reference car should evolve and become something far more diverse in the process.

The Blackbird took two years of development to come about and, after having won an Innovation Lion award at this year’s Cannes Lions, it’s clear The Mill’s invention is turning heads on the tech scene.

You can see why the Blackbird is so impressive in the video below.