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BMW lets you talk and write to its cars
by Christo van Gemert
News
Why is this important?
As cars become less about driving, and more about commuting, we're getting some great tech to keep us connected.The lowdown...
BMW's proud of its technologies, many of which find their way into the engines that power cars wearing the famous roundel, but in-car tech just got a great big kick up the jacksie.The automaker's new range of technologies starts with a refreshed BMW Professional navigation system, which now supports 3D city maps, real-time traffic information, and Google Local Search. The latter two are made possible through the inclusion of a SIM card, which endows the car with a 3G data connection.
All of this would be pointless if it weren't easier to access. For that, the new iDrive Touch controller will make menu navigation easier: rather than just a rotary knob to fly through the interface, there's now a touchpad, which even supports handwriting recognition. Inputting a street address, for instance, is as simple as just writing the letters with your finger. More importantly, the touchpad supports common pinch-to-zoom gestures when using the satnav map.
Connectivity is also extended with an optional in-car LTE hotspot. This creates a wireless hotspot in the car, with connectivity being provided by an LTE mobile network. In those areas that don't have LTE connectivity - like most of SA, for instance - it'll revert to good ol' 3G networks.
If handwriting is too passé, the message dictation feature in the new system should impress. This takes the previous voice command system and gives it more functionality by letting drivers dictate their text messages or emails, and the car takes care of the rest. This technology is powered by Nuance - the same company that's behind Apple's Siri. In fact, it's this exact same technology that Apple demonstrated recently, providing perfect integration between iOS devices and certain manufacturers' cars.
Finally, there will now be Android integration in BMW vehicles. Previously only Apple devices were supported through BMW Connected Drive, but now this extends to devices powered by Google's mobile OS. There are no specifics on which versions of Android will be supported, but you can bet that more recent versions will be given preference.
Source
BMW