BMW at the CeBit 2008: World Debut for Unrestricted Use of the Internet in the car. BMW ConnectedDrive brings the World Wide Web to the Car Display in BMW.

Munich/Hannover. Sheer driving pleasure and the joy of surfing. BMW combines
the thrill of mobility and unrestricted use of the internet. As the world's
first car maker, BMW allows unrestricted access to the World Wide Web in the
car's display. Offering this outstanding innovation, BMW ConnectedDrive gives
the driver and his passengers the option to surf the internet while travelling,
calling up any random internet site either by entering the URL address through
the iDrive control system or via a personalised list of favourites, and then
presenting the website on the central display in the instrument panel.
This system developed in the context of BMW ConnectedDrive is the consistent
enhancement of the intelligent network connecting the driver, the car and their
surroundings. Following the highly beneficial features already offered by BMW
Online and the option presented in summer 2007 to use the Google online search
machine and its various categories in the car, BMW ConnectedDrive now for the
first time offers genuine internet in a BMW.As in the case of BMW Online with
direct access to Google, BMW is now once again taking on the leading role in
providing online services in the car. Again, therefore, the world's largest
manufacturer of premium automobiles is proving its competence in the area of
vehicle electronics.
As a special offer by BMW ConnectedDrive, internet surfing in the car
will be available as an optional extra in BMW's production models straight from
the factory in the course of 2008. The version presented at the 2008 CeBit in
Hannover is a prototype very close to series production.
Also when using the internet:
maximum convenience thanks to BMW iDrive.
BMW ConnectedDrive brings the complete World Wide Web into the car on the
display, offering more functions all in one go than the driver will usually
enjoy on the internet in his office or on his PC at home. This is made possible
by the unique BMW iDrive control system activating and masterminding all
telecommunication, entertainment, navigation and air conditioning functions via
the Controller on the centre console and the centre display in the dashboard.
In using the internet, the BMW iDrive Controller acts in the same way as a
conventional computer mouse: Moving the Controller in various directions, the
user is able to move the mouse on the internet site shown in the display. Then,
pressing the Controller, the user clicks the mouse on the PC to select links or
specific items in the menu. By turning the Controller, finally, the user
scrolls up and down to the appropriate internet site.
The display presents internet sites in high resolution, an additional function
serving to enlarge specific sections on the display by a factor of 1.5 or 2.
The presentation of internet sites on the display is only possible for safety
reasons with the car at a standstill. As with the configuration of TV and/or
DVD functions available as an option on cars with BMW iDrive, the internet site
disappears as soon as the vehicle exceeds a speed of 5 km/h. But on models
equipped with an optional DVD system in the rear, the internet function might
also be added, allowing passengers on the rear seats to surf the net also when
driving at higher speeds above 5 km/h.
High-resolution presentation, fast data transfer.
Apart from high-resolution presentation of web contents on the display, fast
transfer of data is also guaranteed, with data transfer based on EDGE
technology (Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution), which, unlike
third-generation telephony, is already available on a broad scale and is three
to four times faster than GPRS mobile connections.
A special BMW server quickly transfers internet sites into the car and ensures
optimum presentation on the display. It also optimises flash animations and
other so-called applets with extremely high data volume, which might otherwise
slow down the fast transmission rate required. In this way, therefore, BMW
ConnectedDrive ensures improved data transfer for comfortable surfing within
the car.
A further option is to receive and send e-mails straight from the car, with
additional applications such as online banking also being conceivable in full
in future. Using the existing BMW Online portal in the internet, BMW is already
the first car maker to offer, through BMW ConnectedDrive, the option to
transmit navigation destinations generated by Google Maps into the car from any
PC. Then the address data may be used directly in the car as navigation and
telephone dial destinations. In the near future, therefore, the BMW Online
portal in the internet will allow the configuration of web addresses shown in
the car as favourites on the car's internet starting page.
Over and above the activation of links on the internet sites shown in the
display and the choice of web addresses as favourites, BMW also allows the
direct selection of new contents simply by entering a URL. To do this, all the
user has to do is enter the URL in the browser's address field, also using
other entry fields on internet sites. The entries are made via a selection of
letters which, in their function, correspond to the entry of addresses in BMW
navigation systems, with convenience and ease of operation being optimised once
again.
Whenever the car is used by several drivers one after the other, personalised
starting pages may be installed without problems. In that case each driver is
able to retrieve the starting page he requires by making his personal
registration in the system. Surfing the internet in the car's display will be
available before the end of this year as a new offer from BMW ConnectedDrive
installed directly at the factory and provided together with an unlimited data
flatrate.
BMW ConnectedDrive: optimum mobility, maximum comfort.
Offering internet on the car's screen as an outstanding innovation, BMW is once
again making a pioneering breakthrough in the area of intelligent networking,
bringing together the driver, the car and the world around them and
consistently enhancing the wide range of internet-based services already
offered since 2001.
BMW combines such individual online, assistance and service systems in the car
under the general term "BMW ConnectedDrive" referring to services which may be
used directly through the navigation system or over the telephone in the
interest of significantly enhanced comfort and safety.
One example is BMW Assist which, apart from providing an emergency call
function and the latest traffic information, also offers a personal enquiry
service. Data requested on restaurants, cinemas or hotels may, for example, be
fed directly into the BMW navigation system as the driver's destination.
Internet-based services such as stock values, the weather report and free
parking space, in turn, are covered by BMW Online. And BMW TeleServices,
finally, registers the car independently and automatically with the customer's
BMW Service Partner whenever service is required.
This wide range of internet-based services in the car and the technology
involved has been consistently enhanced since 2001. Integrating such services
completely in the car's electronics, BMW Online has a unique position in the
market to this day. Such integration of services allows convenient access to
local information in the car, BMW Online now also comprising mobility services
such as looking for parking space and orientation by mobile phone and an
e-mail account with an address directory, information on travel and
leisure-time activities as well as hotels and restaurants, an enquiry service,
news and weather, the "My News" (RSS feeds), as well as business news and the
stock exchange.
In summer 2007 BMW became the world's first car maker to offer the Google
search function in the car, allowing users throughout Germany to retrieve local
information directly from the internet through the world's best-known online
search machine. The information obtained is then presented conveniently at the
touch of a button in the navigation system and also goes to the user's mobile
phone. The system detects the location and destination of the car independently
and presents the results obtained in the area covered together with their
address, telephone number and distance, enabling the user to search for names
and addresses in a local directory, for example the addresses of restaurants,
hotels, filling stations, banks, supermarkets, cinemas or local authorities.
The Google search function in the car consistently enhances the intelligent
link of the car and the internet. Introducing the "Send to Car" function,
Google and BMW already offered the possibility before to send search results
from the Google Maps website directly to the car. And now the Google services
search function provides direct access to the internet from the car itself as a
further milestone in BMW ConnectedDrive.