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A BMW outage made Apple CarPlay unusable
BMW owners in both the US and UK have been locked out of Apple's CarPlay interface on their vehicles due to system-wide outages of ConnectedDrive. 9to5Mac reported that complaints from drivers on both sides of the pond began racking up on social media earlier this week. The German car company's subscription-based connectivity service lets drivers to connect to Apple's CarPlay, which manages everything from navigation to phone calls. With ConnectedDrive being down, cars are unable to confirm that drivers have paid for the CarPlay options in their vehicle.
BMW shows off what else you could be doing in a self-driving car
The world is overflowing with autonomous cars. That's great because the competition will ultimately benefit everyone. The typical self-driving demo (while generally impressive), usually requires reporters to sit in the passenger seat with a safety engineer behind the wheel. BMW, on the other hand, put me behind the wheel and let its prototype 5 Series tell me all about Las Vegas while barreling down the freeway.
Alexa can now lock your BMW and feed it directions
Remember when James Bond drove his BMW in a parking garage from the back seat by remote control? Yeah, the automaker's latest Connected app won't do that. But, it'll at least make you feel like "007 lite" with Alexa, Apple Watch 2 and Android support. The Alexa integration is the most fun, letting you use voice commands with an Echo or Echo Dot to lock your vehicle's doors, load up a scheduled trip and check battery and fuel levels.
BMW gets into the virtual assistant game with its ConnectedDrive app
BMW is one of the more tech-focused car companies out there, and today the company announced an expansion of its ConnectedDrive in-car systems at Microsoft Build. The new BMW Connected app for the iPhone is powered by Microsoft's Azure platform and is BMW's take on a always-on assistant, not unlike Cortana or Google Now. The unveiling on stage was quick, but generally speaking it looks like BMW Connected will start off by managing your appointments and giving you notifications about when you should leave, how traffic will change your route, whether you should get off the highway to avoid a traffic jam and so on.
BMW M Laptimer goes live in iOS App Store, tracks your run to the grocery store
The average BMW driver may not often take their Bimmer out to the track, but those who do can now get some free iOS assisted coaching. The company's BMW M Laptimer app tracks vehicle throttle, steering, braking and engine data and maps it to a pre-defined or user created track, analyzing the driver's performance along the way. Would-be race car drivers can even swap track data with their friends, and play back a virtual head-to-head ghost comparison race to critique each other's laptimes. Although the tool is clearly designed to be used in a controlled track environment, drivers can also generate custom maps -- giving them an edge in the race to get to their local grocer. Not much has changed since BMW teased the app earlier this summer, but drivers with access to any BMW Apps connected vehicle (not just BMW M models) can pick it up for free today. Just don't have too much fun racing the custom track you'll undoubtedly build for your morning commute. [Thanks, Kevin]
BMW M Power for iOS plots our track runs for posterity (video)
While pro race drivers are used to telemetry-based feedback, us civilians don't have such an easy solution for our track days. BMW wants to take the guesswork out of those amateur racing sessions by launching its M Power app for iOS. The tool pairs an iPhone with a BMW Connected car to collect not just lap times, but the moment-by-moment input -- if you're braking too late at turn three, you'll know. Drivers can compare their results, and it's possible to build custom tracks for autocross weekends. M Power won't be available until the summer, but it will be free to use for any Connected vehicle, whether or not it carries an M badge. Catch BimmerPost's full video preview after the break.
BMW and Mini cars add iOS integration for Audible, Glympse, Rhapsody and TuneIn
BMW hasn't been quite as aggressive in pushing smartphone app integration as American counterparts like Ford or GM, but it certainly knows how to make up for lost time: the Munich automaker just greenlit tie-ins with the iOS apps from Audible, Glympse, Rhapsody and TuneIn. Plug in a device and it will be possible to wield the apps' respective audiobook, location sharing, subscription music and live streaming radio services from a BMW Apps-capable BMW or Mini, with an interface optimized for the center stack. Each of the developers will need to update their app to make everything click, which we're told may take weeks. There still shouldn't be much wait before fans of Teutonic (and British) rides can get lost while streaming favorite songs -- and tell everyone just how far they went off-course.
BMW Connected hitting 1 Series cars first, lets you tweet your disregard for speed limits
The BMW Connected app has been available for a few months now, following in the footsteps of Mini Connected as it sits there, and taunting you from the App Store. We knew cars supporting the feature would be coming in March, and now we know which ones will be first: BMW's svelte little 1 Series. To enable the streaming radio and even streaming video (when the car is stationary) on the dash-mounted display you'll need to tick the box next to a €150 (about $205) option. In your suitably equipped car you can then get your Facebook and Twitter feeds read to you and even provide automated responses using "vehicle information such as current speed, outside temperature or navigation destination." We're hoping the car can apply some flowery language to such hard data, like "bat out of hell" for those particularly warm days in which you're driving at a high rate of speed from an unpleasant point of origin.
BMW Connected app hits iOS App Store, 'Apps' function hitting vehicles next year
Like son, like father? Evidently that's exactly how things are playing out, with papa BMW following the footsteps of MINI in the run-up to 2011. Just days after the MINI Connected app found itself situated in the App Store, a BMW Connected app has done likewise. The software itself is free to download, but you'll need a 6NR-equipped Bimmer to take advantage. From what we can gather, you'll have to fork out €150 or so for the Apps option, but sadly, there are two costly prerequisites to that: a €3,800 navigation option and a €400 USB interface. In other words, we get the impression that existing BMW owners are out of luck. If you've got the magic concoction (available from March 2011), you'll be able to access web radio stations, hear your Twitter and Facebook updates aloud and control your music via the iDrive setup. That is, until iOS 4.3 goes and breaks compatibility with everything, forever. Joy, joy.
