The BMW i8 Spyder Concept picks up where the BMW i8 left off in taking the future of mobility and bringing a step closer to reality. The new SPYDER shows us a glimpse at what the i8 coupe will truly look like in street guise. Gone are the clear polycarbonate “glass” doors, replaced with standard opaque materials (CFRP) to meet crash worthiness no doubt. The interior has been made more realistic with components that are more approachable in terms of cost and functionality.
The i8 will debut in 2014 as BMWi’s second model after the i3 Mega City Vehicle. This new concept is anticipated to fall in line sometime in 2015. The future is approaching and BMWi is leading the charge. Full Release and galleries after the jump.
BMW and Toyota further inked a deal and announced that collaborative research into the next generation batteries for tomorrow’s greener cars has already begun. BMW will benefit from Toyota’s buying power and previous research in li-ion battery cells moving forward in addition to BMW sharing diesel technology with the Japanese firm in European markets.
Today at South by Southwest Interactive in Austin, Texas BMW Group announced that the Stitcher Smart Radio iPhone App will be the next compatible app for iDrive/MINI Connected. Video of the prototype app in a BMW 650i and press release after the jump.
Official Release: For a long time, motorists regarded air conditioning merely as a guarantee of a cool workplace when behind the wheel. During the early 1980s, the optional extra was predominantly ordered as protection against the midsummer heat inside the car, true to the motto: the heat has to stay out, irrespective of how hot the sun is. The greater the “refrigerator feeling” experienced by occupants was, the more effective an air conditioning system was considered to be.
Last year we detailed how those in the US could get in on BMW’s fabulous Remote iOS app. However starting today things just got exponentially easier.
Official Release: BMW announced that the My BMW Remote app is available for Apple iOS devices beginning today. This app allows many BMW customers to access remote features for their vehicle by using their mobile device and the power of BMW Assist. These features include remotely locking and unlocking of doors, getting the location of their parked vehicle, and sending Google Local Search results to their vehicle. Additionally, some customers will even be able to send a command to sound the horn or flash the headlights of their BMW.
BMW continues to research “highly automated” driving. This video shows how far they’ve come and what the future holds. How do you feel about the car’s electronics taking over under certain conditions? We’d love to hear in the comments section!
With BMW’s recent introduction of Yelp into the “BMW Online” suite of services, a lot of readers have begun to ask questions about BMW Online versus BMW Apps. Unlike BMW Apps, “Online” is an annual subscription service that costs $100 a year and delivers weather, fuel prices and now Yelp to your car (among other things). The other side of the coin is BMW Apps, a $250 option that allows for iOS based BMW apps to be displayed on your cars Nav screen and controlled by iDrive.
For our money BMW apps is the way to go as it de-couples the app from automotive development and promises future upgrades with new functionality. And it’s that new functionality we want to talk about today.
Today BMW rolls out a new feature to its online suite of offerings. Yelp is well known to most American consumers and the basic functionality is what you’d expect. The app allows you to tap into Yelp’s huge database of rated services. However one caveat is that this is not bundled with BMW Apps and only is available via BMW’s $99 a year Online service.
Official Release: BMW today announced that users of BMW Online in the US can now access Yelp in their vehicles. With Yelp on-board, customers can search for everything from the best local restaurants and boutiques to parking garages and banks. They are able to see ratings for those businesses while hearing reviews read out to them via the vehicle’s text-to-speech feature. With the recent update to BMW Online’s layout, BMW can seamlessly add new features (known as “applications”) as they become available. Yelp is the first such application and there will be more to follow.
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We believe in the old school BMW ownership experience. We believe in garage nights with a six pack and some friends. We believe in 2002s, in E30 M3s and E34 540s with the 6 speed. We believe in progress in both design and engineering but we haven't lost sight of what made the brand and its products great all those years ago. And yes, we believe in the manual transmission.
We long for the days of the wave and for the days of roll-up windows. Yet we love the gadgets on the inside and the xenons on the outside.
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Sections: BMWi, Concept, Design, i8, Official News, Technology, Vision Mar 31st, 2012 7 Comments 
