Photo: Florin Profir
BMW’s CEO, Harald Krueger, has confirmed that the German company will offer its customers both Apple’s new CarPlay feature and Google’s Android Auto. The news came during the conference call for the quarterly report usually held every three months.
The topic of digitalization has been a main focus for a lot of brands recently. The Bavarians showed that they want to keep up the pace, launching one of the most complex cars in the industry in this regard just a couple of months ago, the new 7 Series.
BMW's flagship limousine has the new iDrive system that also features touch-sensitive screens and surfaces inside the cabin, as well as a plethora of connectivity options, including Miracast.
It’s not only CarPlay and Android Auto that Mr. Krueger is referring to, but also autonomous features that make the cars safer and more comfortable to travel in for long distances. However, as the offerings from Apple and Google will make their debut on BMW cars, the main focus of engineers and programmers will be to keep their customers’ data protected. That’s also one of the reasons why it’s taking so long for the Germans to bring these features to the market.
“We want our customers to be able to make full use of their smartphone’s features in the car as well. Thus, we are going to integrate Apple’s ‘CarPlay’ and Google’s ‘Android Auto’ into our vehicles. Obviously, it is not in the interest of our customers to give third-party providers access to their data. For us, the protection of our customers’ data is top priority,” Krueger said.
This is a rather interesting point, as Ian Robertson, the head of sales and marketing at BMW, pointed out that big companies were already interested in accessing valuable data picked up by sensors inside the cars.
According to him, this kind of info could then be used to advertise products inside the car with a predictable effect. For example, the car’s sensors would know if you’ve been driving for a long time and if you have children with you just by using weight sensors and the odometer. This way, an ad for a fast food chain could pop up, or one for a play zone to get your kids excited about the prospect of getting out of the vehicle.
The confidentiality of this kind of data must be preserved in the future, obviously, and if BMW succeeds in offering it, than it should be a win for the entire industry. Keep in mind that Porsche has refused Android Auto on account of privacy issues, and so has Mercedes-Benz.
BMW's flagship limousine has the new iDrive system that also features touch-sensitive screens and surfaces inside the cabin, as well as a plethora of connectivity options, including Miracast.
It’s not only CarPlay and Android Auto that Mr. Krueger is referring to, but also autonomous features that make the cars safer and more comfortable to travel in for long distances. However, as the offerings from Apple and Google will make their debut on BMW cars, the main focus of engineers and programmers will be to keep their customers’ data protected. That’s also one of the reasons why it’s taking so long for the Germans to bring these features to the market.
“We want our customers to be able to make full use of their smartphone’s features in the car as well. Thus, we are going to integrate Apple’s ‘CarPlay’ and Google’s ‘Android Auto’ into our vehicles. Obviously, it is not in the interest of our customers to give third-party providers access to their data. For us, the protection of our customers’ data is top priority,” Krueger said.
This is a rather interesting point, as Ian Robertson, the head of sales and marketing at BMW, pointed out that big companies were already interested in accessing valuable data picked up by sensors inside the cars.
According to him, this kind of info could then be used to advertise products inside the car with a predictable effect. For example, the car’s sensors would know if you’ve been driving for a long time and if you have children with you just by using weight sensors and the odometer. This way, an ad for a fast food chain could pop up, or one for a play zone to get your kids excited about the prospect of getting out of the vehicle.
The confidentiality of this kind of data must be preserved in the future, obviously, and if BMW succeeds in offering it, than it should be a win for the entire industry. Keep in mind that Porsche has refused Android Auto on account of privacy issues, and so has Mercedes-Benz.
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