BMW Connects Customers through Microsoft’s Cloud

BMW Connected, the new personal mobility companion makes its world debut at Microsoft Build 2016, Microsoft Corp’s. developer conference.

Starting today, the first version called BMW Connected North America, powered by Microsoft Azure, is now available at the Apple App Store to BMW ConnectedDrive customers in the US for iOS devices.

BMW Connected accompanies you throughout the day and perfectly integrates into BMW vehicles, providing solutions in the right place at just the right time.

This marks the inception of BMW’s vision of an intelligent, highly personalized world of digital services that integrate the vehicle seamlessly into the life of the consumer.

Putting consumers and their personal needs at the heart of this vision, services will be available anytime, anywhere - in or outside of the vehicle.

The BMW Group’s approach to mobility with this digital companion, powered by the Open Mobility Cloud is at the forefront of the automotive industry.

Never Leave Late Again
Reaching your destination easily, comfortably and punctually constitutes a basic need of everyday mobility. Traffic conditions change quickly so access to real-time information is important.

BMW Connected provides estimated travel times in and outside the vehicle for your routine or planned destinations. Based on traffic conditions, you will be notified when it’s time to leave, on your iPhone or Apple Watch.

As BMW Connected learns your typical travel times between frequent destinations, notifications are provided when the trip will take longer than usual.

Keep family and friends informed of your likely arrival time from your smartphone or inside the vehicle by sending a pre-formatted text message auto-populated with your arrival time.

All Your Destinations In One Place - Intelligently
Mobility starts before you get into the vehicle and continues after you exit. BMW Connected makes the end-to-end journey simpler and more pleasurable so you arrive stress free.

Search easily for points of interest or destinations in BMW Connected, a maps app or your favorite third party app and add them to your BMW Connected profile. Calendar events with addresses are automatically imported to simplify your daily planning. Nearby authorized BMW centers, convenient fueling and charging stations as well as parking locations are available with one click.

Frequent and recent destinations are learned and stored for quick future access and estimated travel times are shown at a glance. As learning continues, BMW Connected starts to predict your next destination to surface current travel times for easy decision-making.

To start in-car navigation, connect your smartphone to your BMW or send the destination in advance. BMW Connected allows easy access to all your places both in-car and on your smartphone to quickly re-use destinations and check drive times.

BMW Connected completes the journey by providing an easy way to start ‘last mile’ walking guidance from your parking spot to your final destination on your smartphone.

Seamless Integration With Your BMW
A key element of BMW Connected is the seamless integration with vehicles equipped with BMW ConnectedDrive. It’s quick and easy to stay in touch with your BMW with remote functionality using your smartphone. Lock the doors, flash the lights, sound the horn and start ventilation remotely.

For BMW plug-in hybrid models, view battery state of charge, electric range and hybrid range to ensure that you’re prepared.

The Open Mobility Cloud - Azure Provides The Foundation
Mobility needs are unique, personal and an important part of everyday life.

BMW envisions the future of mobility as seamless integration of everyday devices and touchpoints along with relevant services that enable safe, smart and delightful experiences in and outside the vehicle.

The Open Mobility Cloud is at the core of delivering on this vision and already powers the BMW Connected experience today

BMW created the Open Mobility Cloud, which drives rapid innovation around customer needs using Azure and Azure Services.

The Open Mobility Cloud is an intelligent, continuously-learning platform built to meld context, environment, touchpoints and services in the right mix and at the right time to address customers’ individual mobility needs.

It is open to integrate any device or partner service that adds value to BMW customers and focused on mobility to seamlessly integrate the vehicle into daily digital life.

The platform is based on state-of-the art cloud technology to work in the background on behalf of BMW consumers to deliver contextual, personalized services just as the need arises

The platform offers far-reaching capabilities for machine learning and data analysis. The service utilizes many Microsoft services, including HDInsight, Windows SQL, IoT Event Hubs, Machine Learning, Apps Insight and many more. With these intelligent tools, the more frequently users make use of the digital services, the more effectively they can be personalized.

In addition, the Microsoft platform will allow developers to more easily interoperate innovative applications, data and IoT services into the OMC. Azure, a global cloud platform, allows for a seamless rollout of services worldwide, scaling quickly to reach customers in any region.

Related: BMW Unveils Futuristic Self-Driving Concept