BMW ConnectedDrive Blitzkrieg Includes LTE Connectivity, Android Compatibility ... - Wired (blog)

Photo: BMW AG

For better or worse, BMW has been on the cutting edge of in-car technology. On the upside, it was the first automaker to offer in-dash navigation back in 1994. A decade later, BMW introduced iPod integration at a time when some competitors still had cassette players in the dash. On the downside, BMW’s pioneering iDrive was pilloried as a convoluted and confusing interface when it debuted in 2001, although it’s since become the template for center-console controllers used by several luxury automakers.

But the automotive infotainment landscape has shifted rather drastically, with mainstream brands such as Ford and Toyota providing some of the most cutting-edge connected, app-oriented systems. While premium European brands like BMW and Audi haven’t stood still, aside from advanced safety systems, paying top dollar no longer guarantees top-shelf tech â€" as anyone who’s been in a late-model Mercedes-Benz S-Class or Lexus LS can tell you.

This week BMW released a blitzkrieg of in-car tech that will appear in future models and seeks to re-establish the brand as the benchmark for embedded technology and infotainment. Under the umbrella term ConnectedDrive that BMW coined to include infotainment, navigation and Web-enabled services, the latest introduction encompasses everything from a refined touch-based iDrive controller to a removable LTE hotspot.

Photo: BMW AG

A cornerstone of ConnectedDrive is the next-gen BMW Professional navigation system that features a new design and layout for less distraction. It uses what BWM calls “an atmospheric lighting effect” on a black background that the automaker claims makes content easier to grasp at a glance and is also less cluttered. Menus are presented with a “virtual” 3-D visual effect courtesy of a 1.3GHz processor and dedicated 3-D graphics chip. A “spatial dimension” has also been added to the display so that when a submenu is selected, other menus fade into the background but are still visible.

Photo: BMW AG

Specific navigation-routing upgrades include “High Guiding,” with critical information appearing in the instrument panel and heads-up displays, as well as in the dash when the vehicle comes within range of the next maneuver. At specified distances, the default arrow display switched to a more detailed bird’s-eye perspective of the area. The new nav system also has a “3D City Models” option for a Street View-like depiction of a driver’s surrounding in certain urban areas. Finally, the system relies on BMW’s Real-Time Traffic Information (RTTI) technology to choose routes â€" and reroute a driver, if necessary â€" by collecting traffic-load data for highways as well as other arteries via a 3G connection provided by a built-in SIM card.

And if you do get stuck in traffic despite the nav system’s best routing intentions, the latest version of ConnectedDrive strives to keep everyone in the car productive and entertained. This includes a new function for ConnectedDrive’s Mobile Office feature that allows two phones to simultaneously connect to the vehicle, with the address book from both combined into a joint contact list for calls and e-mails. Calendar items also comingled and displayed in an e-mail-like format and in a daily view. Perfect for the power couple that shares the same 7 Series â€" unless an appointment for a tryst pop-ups, leaving a divorce lawyer to sort it all out.

Photo: BMW AG

BMW will also be the first automaker to integrate Nuance’s Dragon Drive cloud-based voice-recognition platform into the car, staring with the 2012 BMW 7 Series this month and the 3 Series Touring and ActiveHybrid models later this year. Called Dragon Drive Messaging, the feature allows the driver to dictated messages that can then be sent via SMS or e-mail using ConnectedDrive’s Office function. It can also record a voice memo up to two minutes in length, which can later be either e-mailed or archived to a USB drive. According to Nuance, drivers will be able to “speak simple commands” to add new lines, paragraphs and punctuation and other formatting. Nuance Dragon Drive will also allow the nav system to accept “one-shot” entries such as “Navigate to 520 Third Street, San Francisco, California.” Nuance couldn’t comment on how Dragon Drive will coexist with Apple’s Eyes Free, since BMW was named as an automotive partner for the Siri integration feature. And neither did BMW.

The ConnectedDrive updates are short on entertainment functions. FM radio broadcasts gain graphics for the in-dash display, as with some satellite and internet-radio interfaces. If an FM radio station broadcasts radio text formats, the artist, album and genre cover will appear, and even if they don’t, a generic genre graphic will be displayed. BMW claims that an improved music search function has been added that allows finding a certain music selection much faster when stored on an embedded 20GB. Let’s hope this extends to music on an iPod, since the current iDrive has one of the most time-consuming processes for getting to a desired track.

Photo: BMW AG

But maybe that will be remedied with the introduction of the BMW’s new iDrive Touch, which integrates a 45mm touch pad into the top of the controller, as reported earlier. Like Audi’s MMI Touch, the new interface allows using a finger to enter characters by sketching them. iDrive Touch will also incorporates a pinch-zoom function for the navigation map. The new interface is intended for the Chinese market, where it will be available as early as this month, while other markets have to wait at least a year, according to BMW. But by that time, full internet access will be added as well and the iDrive Touch will include a mouse pointer, BMW says.

Photo: BMW AG

You won’t have to wait a year to get Internet access in your BMW, because starting in November you can add the automaker’s LTE Car Hotspot feature. It consists of a center-console cradle like the type used to dock a phone, into which users insert their own LTE SIM card. BMW claims that the Hotspot hardware â€" and its connection to the vehicle’s antenna â€" improves reception and also reduces potential radiation inside the car. Anyone in the car can connect to the Hotspot and use the LTE connection, and anyone outside can as well since it comes with a built-in battery and antennae for portable use for up to 30 minutes or with a USB power supply connected. BMW notes that the LTE Car Hotspot fits into any BMW center console with a phone base plate so that it can be retrofitted to earlier models. In areas without LTE coverage, the Hotspot will switch to another network.

One of the biggest knocks against the first generation of ConnectedDrive was that it was too iPhone-centric for some functions. BMW Apps, for example, brings Facebook, Twitter, Internet radio and other connected features to the dash, only works with iPhones. Recognizing that being sequestered inside Apple’s walled garden means that BMW Apps isn’t available to a large chunk of smartphone owners, the next version of ConnectedDrive will incorporate Android devices â€" although Android compatibility won’t come until July of next year. BMW has also chosen Samsung “as its pilot partner for Android integration” and it says that Android integration “will be gradually rolled out to include further manufacturers.”

More encouraging for future compatibility is BMW’s announcement that it will be offering an SDK to third-party developer for BMW Apps and also for the MINI Connected and Rolls-Royce Connect platforms. While Ford and GM have offered infotainment APIs to select outside developers, BMW’s move represents a major opening of the dashboard by an automaker. BMW says “the prerequisite for all apps is that they meet the requirements for distraction-free operation” and that the SDK includes “the framework to seamlessly integrates the apps into the display and control concept.”

Automotive electronics analysts and others observer have said that that the best way for automakers to keep pace with consumer tech is to open the dashboard to outside developers, in the same way that the approach has spurred innovation in mobile devices. Taken together with the rest of the ConnectedDrive’s latest tech, BMW seems ready to respond to that call â€" and once again lead the pack.

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