The 2016 BMW 7 Series will bring a couple of exciting premieres to the table, both for BMW as a brand and for the industry. According to the Germans, we’re dealing with 13 industry-wide firsts and 25 never-before-seen technologies inside Munich’s HQ.
Amongst them, you’ll find things such as gesture control, a 3D camera for the exterior of the car, remote parking, the carbon core chassis and body and so on. One of the least impressive firsts for BMW though will be the Wi-Fi hotspot capability.
While other companies have been offering such tech for quite some time now, the Bavarians have been playing catch up lately in this field. No matter, they are now offering it on the 7 Series and it will soon dribble down to other models.
Rumors have it that all cars will be getting Wi-Fi connectivity in the future, and the first one to be launched with it will be the new G20 5 Series. Until then though, let’s take a look at how we can actually use it.
Wi-fi connectivity allows you and the other passengers to connect to the car’s 4G or LTE connection, therefore, sparing battery life and data consumption on their personal phones.
To do that, you need to authorize and connect the devices to the iDrive system. What you need to do is go to the Communication menu (it’s inside the new iDrive system, the second option from the left), select manage mobile devices, connect new device and then choose Internet hotspot.
A message will appear, instructing you to activate Wi-Fi on your device and then connect to the car’s hotspot, using the mentioned name and password provided on the screen. Like any other wireless network, when you will be getting back to the car, your device will connect automatically, so it's very convenient in that regard.
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