Automobile company BMW is set to debut connected drive in Africa as it prepares to launch the BMW i3 and BMW i8 in South Africa in march 2015. The automobile will be able to make intelligent emergency calls offering the exact location of the car and real-time traffic updates.
The new BMW vehicles will come with a built-in communications box into which a SM card is inserted and the service is called Connected Drive. BMW will not be the only brand that adopts this kind of service. These on-board Internet services will add to the overall demand for data. BMW suggests that 2015 it will have 5 million of these connected cars globally.
According to tech analyst Russell Southwood, the standard Intelligent Emergency Call system offers precise vehicle location and the technology can be used with a different package to gauge the severity of the accident. The TeleServices monitors the car’s data from fluid levels to brake pads. If anything needs servicing, the data is transferred to BMW.
“BMW Online and BMW Apps-ready applications mean that the user can download any information or entertainment options, including online radio streams or music streaming services like Spotify that offer themed music streams. There is unlimited data transfer excluding video streaming. The BMW Connected App offers web radio, Wiki Local, Facebook, a calendar and other things a driver might find useful,” he said.
He said the current portfolio of third party providers includes Stitcher, Baidu Music, Douban FM and Snippy and is being gradually extended by the addition of numerous third-party apps such as Deezer, Rhapsody, TuneIn Radio, Audible and Glympse. Application-based integration is also compatible with smartphones running the Google Android operating system.
