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Michael Taylor6 Jun 2013
NEWS

Silver lining in the Cloud for BMW Connected Drive

Onboard Internet connections to re-route BMWs to the information superhighway
BMW is about to turn Sheer Driving Pleasure into Sheer Downloading Pleasure by integrating its Internet connections directly into its entertainment system, turning any BMW into one big smart phone.
The move, which begins with some BMW models in Europe from June, is a forerunner for wholesale changes at BMW to turn its cars into high-speed iPhones and Androids, complete with their own download plans, their own third-party apps and user-chooser app store.
Starting with six European countries this year, the next step in BMW’s ConnectedDrive program permanently connects the cars to the Internet cloud via an LTE 4G connection, with a promised 100 per cent coverage of the European continent by 2015.
Australia, clearly, will have to wait, though BMW insists the global rollout of its new ConnectedDrive program will be only slowed by the unique demands of China and the United States.
Effectively, the entire BMW range will eventually become permanently connected to the Cloud, capable of storing information and apps and music and downloading it at any time at 100 megabytes per second, with needing telephones or USB sticks plugged into a socket.
BMW has had its own application for 12 years, though it’s only been in recent years that it has included things like web radio. 
Simon Euringer, head of BMW’s ConnectedDrive development, insisted that the new integrated system would allow BMW drivers access to more than 14 million songs, in the IH3 Plus format, whenever they wanted them, in addition to the 10,000 songs the car could store on its own hard drive.
The entire system can be linked to a smart phone app and a web page exclusive to each individual car, and owners can operate all of the car’s own smart systems through either device. 
“Now we can do any of it live in the vehicle, from the computer at home or in the office or even from your mobile wherever you are,” Mr Euringer said.
“You will be able to update a used BMW like a new car and you can also transfer this into your next car. If you buy a car that is not a BMW you can let the next owner take over the lifetime services or you can park the services until you need them again.
“The thought of people is that smart phones are a part of modern life and we are bringing that to the car now.”
As so many smart phone first timers have found out, though, the data roaming charges are the ones that hurt and BMW promises to be connected all the time. Will that hurt?
“There is a €390 one-off payment for the six countries (Germany, The Netherlands, the UK, Spain, France and Italy) that includes a year of music and data, and that’s a flat rate with no data limits. The renewal package is €220 a year.
“When you buy this package you can have an account and you can use this with any other device as well,” Mr Euringer said.
“You won’t own the songs, you will rent them and even the flat rate data would be at less than 20 euros a month on a smart phone.”
BMW and other premium brands have already run into criticisms that their cars are offering too many distractions for drivers, but Mr Euringer countered that by insisting it wasn’t BMW’s position to be directing the behavior of its customers.
“We play strictly by the rules, as laid down in the US, which are the world’s toughest. Then we leave it up to the customer. It’s not up to us to dictate to the customer.”
The product manager for BMW’s Apps and Online Services, Andreas Schwarzmeier, went further, insisting BMW’s customers were demanding more and easier integration of smart phones into their cars, so BMW has gone one step further and made the entire car, effectively, a smart phone.
“Quite simply, customers are expecting it from us.” Mr Schwarzmeier insisted. “Smart phones are a key for young and old people and they are expecting them to be integrated as well as possible into the car. 
“When it comes to the topic of distraction, we know that the use of the internet in the car leads to questions of driver distraction. We can counter that because all the apps integrated into the car follow very strict regulations developed in the US.
“They are often developed by partners along our guidelines because we are talking about a platform. 
“We are not just seizing on smartphones to integrate apps. If you look at vehicle apps (which we have offered for 12 years with BMW apps), regular smart phone apps we were offering were just an interface for the customer’s own phone.
“But with our vehicle apps, you are seizing the services and streaming them into the car. 
“We can integrate apps from the smartphone through the SIM and we just have the control and the display side in the car.
“For many of our customers, sheer driving pleasure is looking to entertainment. With Tune In radio we have already cooperated in the BMW Connected App but what’s new now is that you can have Deezer or Napster or Rhapsody or Spotify.
“You can have audio books, which are really helpful with kids on a long drive, through Audible.”
BMW has pledged to roll out the new technology in major markets, although there will be some delay for consumers in China and the USA. But here in Australia the Connected Drive enhancements will reach us soon, according to the General Manager for Corporate Communications at BMW Australia, Lenore Fletcher.
"We will see many components of the new Connected Drive programme; [but] it won’t be until mid 2014..." the BMW exec told motoring.com.au. "But the whole programme introduces so many new benefits and features, and there are so many exciting applications, it really will change the way we drive."

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Written byMichael Taylor
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