Googling BMWs coming to US streets

For more than a year lucky BMW-owning Germans have been hitting Google Maps, and more recently the rest of the Internets, at blazing (cough) EDGE speeds from their sport-seats. Now, Bimmer-owning Americans are getting a piece of the action with a little help from AT&T's GSM-friendly network. However, while there's no mention in the release, BMW Blog thinks US cars will be limited to GPRS, not EDGE. All 2009 American BMW models, except for the lowly X3 mini-'Ute (which BMW doesn't even bother to manufacture itself), will get Google Maps integration, enabling the driver or passenger to search for businesses from the dash. Directions can be piped to the car's nav system and calls placed via in-car Bluetooth. At $199 per-year it's not exactly a steal, but that does include standard BMW Assist functionality like locating your car if it's stolen or dispatching an ambulance if you're in a horrible accident. Yeah, we only care about the searching too.

[Adderz @ Sep 16th 2008 8:47AM]

Unfortunately Australia wont be getting this anytime in the near future i read in the Newspaper. This country sucks for the uptake of new technology.

We have one of the worst broadband systems in the bloody world. We still offer dialup for god sake. We get to pay $40 for 2gb of wireless internet. JOY!

[Ayman @ Sep 16th 2008 8:47AM]

Will the Browser be Chrome?

[MikeWard1701 @ Sep 16th 2008 9:06AM]

No, it will match the veneer of the dashboard :P

[MikeWard1701 @ Sep 16th 2008 9:07AM]

No, it will match the veneer of the dashboard :P

[arthur @ Sep 16th 2008 9:40AM]

Haha. that's very funny.

[PynkFloydd @ Sep 16th 2008 5:24PM]

Actually...Microsoft has a contract with BMW for their auto needs... Kind of weird that Live won't be the default search engine.

http://www.microsoft.com/auto/partners.mspx

[Nick @ Sep 16th 2008 8:48AM]

GPRS?? GPRS??
WOW BMW (Big Money Waste)


Where do I sign up ....

[Lazaro @ Sep 16th 2008 10:32PM]

You know, when I read EDGE, I thought, "ok I can deal with this."

I've been on two tour busses with rolling internet and this idea would be great but GPRS? I don't want to believe such a forward thinking company like BMW is going to go with GPRS when a network like AT&T can do EDGE easily and 3G (with some technical difficulties).

[YesHone @ Sep 16th 2008 3:57PM]

As long as they don't take any chipset tips from Apple, I'd hate to have a BMW with no signal all the time

[Barri @ Sep 16th 2008 9:05AM]

Yeah stupid BMW why on earth is BMW stuck with this crap when a company liked ford has the Sync system. My idrive is a piece of crap compaired to Sync.

[I LOVE THE CAPS LOCK KEY @ Sep 16th 2008 3:37PM]

As if the iDrive wasn't distracting enough, adding google to the mix will make things worse.


I almost wrecked a $120,000 (USD) 7-series because I needed to use the dammed iDrive to change the radio... F*CK*NG SUCKS!

[giedrys @ Sep 16th 2008 9:07AM]

I normaly like this kind of stuff in the car and i surely like BMW, but let me ask you whats the point of paying 199 per year when you ie have iPhone with gmaps and data plan in your pocket? If it magically worked everywhere, then maybe i would say yes. But if it has the same of worse coverage as my phone does, my answer is no.

[MikeWard1701 @ Sep 16th 2008 9:09AM]

"In USA, Google maps forks you.... repeatedly"

[Bob McCapherey @ Sep 16th 2008 9:09AM]

Finally, a company that gets it - DVDs and hard drive based systems suck. If you want up to date POIs and maps, just link to Google maps...

I would gladly pay $199/year for this! Even when I buy a stu[id DVD update from Acura/Alpine, the maps are nowhere up to date as Google Maps! For example, my addess showed up in Google Maps about a year ago, however, the Acura/Alpine DVDs have yet to have the address in their system. LAME LAME LAME.

Needless to say, I think this is where navigation systems are going to go. You will either stream data directly to the car's GPS, or you will have constant updates over something like Wifi. Either way, it will be a hell of a lot better than what I have in my 2007 Acura TL (which is quite possibly the worst car Acura's ever made...(its my third, and last Acura I will ever buy).

[Kasey @ Sep 16th 2008 9:15AM]

While I agree with you on the value of systems that update via WiFi or radio data streams vs. HD and DVD based systems, I very much like my TL

[rj @ Sep 16th 2008 10:53AM]

google basically uses the same map data as the majority of hand held/car gps systems out there. it used to be navteq and now they just switched to tele atlas as part of a new contract. so saying that google maps has more accurate maps than garmin, tom-tom or your acura (navteq based) is ... well ... full of crap.

[bsd107 @ Sep 16th 2008 11:19PM]

No, this is worse. Google uses NAVTEQ, so it's not going to be up to date either.

Plus, since it's working over mobile phone, it'll be incredibly slow. A DVD-ROM, or better yet a hard drive, will be infinitely faster.....

[Bob McCapherey @ Sep 16th 2008 9:11AM]

Umm, so that you don't rear end the person in front of you while trying to correct that "R" you mistakedly typed for a "T"

[Adderz @ Sep 16th 2008 10:23AM]

I beleive those features can only be used while the car is stationary.

[Marcus @ Sep 16th 2008 9:12AM]

Come on. GPRS!? Ever heard of 3G? ;S Sometimes I just don't get the Germans

[joja @ Sep 16th 2008 12:57PM]

@Marcus,@hardcore: I have seen the system in a 535 of a friend half a year ago at CeBIT and it was very impressive for the intended purpose. The article misleds a liitle bit, you search and get the results in a special idrive format directly linked to the maps of the navigation system. Only the data itself is from Google Maps. You don´t even have a real browser window, therefore normal web browsing is not possible at all.

But by only transfering the raw result data, even a GPRS connection works quite well (the reason for the slow connection is certainly the costs for a faster connection). So, searching e.g. a restaurant near you is very simple and well integrated, with up to date data (the POIs in my own Audi MMI DVD navigation system are often of a really sad quality) and by just clicking on a restaurant you get the driving directions. It is legal (at least in Germany) to use it during driving (Web browsing on your phone is not).

News and weather work in a similar fashion.

At the same time I got the demo of the current system, BMW showed a demo of the next generation real internet access at CeBIT.

[Freakin Ijit @ Sep 16th 2008 9:13AM]

Better have a fast way of hiding that display in The States - at least in some states having a general purpose video display visible to a driver is illegal (diagnostics/navigation okay, DVD watching no-no).

[TareX @ Sep 16th 2008 9:48AM]

Well, well. Having an Mi6 agent drive his BMW through his Android phone wasn't so far fetched, after all.

[Hardcore @ Sep 16th 2008 10:16AM]

What exactly does this do that any phone manufactured in the past 2 years can't?

[SteveA @ Sep 16th 2008 10:20AM]

it has a nice big screen and a mount. plus all the other stuff mentioned,

"but that does include standard BMW Assist functionality like locating your car if it's stolen or dispatching an ambulance if you're in a horrible accident."

[sophie @ Sep 16th 2008 12:59PM]

Get you to work every morning?

[rsbell @ Sep 16th 2008 10:20AM]

I'm ordering mine this week.

I have confirmed that it does, in fact, use EDGE.

[whispered @ Sep 16th 2008 10:22AM]

But does it play flash?

[Viru @ Sep 16th 2008 10:30AM]

does it blend

[imfletcher @ Sep 16th 2008 10:52AM]

i already have maps. i want weather!

i often find myself wanting to see a real-time doppler radar while driving. seems like the next logical step once you get access

[Le Big Mac @ Sep 16th 2008 11:12AM]

BTW, the X3 is manufactured by BMW. So not sure what that's all about.

[maxmay @ Sep 16th 2008 8:29PM]

X3 manufactured by Magna International

[Hellaphunt @ Sep 16th 2008 11:19AM]

Can I get a subsidized price on the BMW?

[The Chadd @ Sep 16th 2008 12:25PM]

"...or dispatching an ambulance if you're in a horrible accident"

...from googling while driving?

[James @ Sep 16th 2008 2:31PM]

You forgot to mention that all new BMW's in the UK have this enabled. We have this in our BMW 320d M Sport Edition but we rarely use it due to the fact that it's rather slow, full web browsing is a no go and the content that's delivered to you is extremely basic.

[ginginha @ Sep 16th 2008 3:52PM]

Why not just provide bluetooth tethering from your 3G cellie for the data? That, or provide a SIM slot.