Last week, BMW unveiled its all-new, 2017 5 Series Sedan. The new midsize prestige-sport-luxury sedan will take on segment rivals such as the Mercedes-Benz E-Class, Audi A6 family, the Lexus GS, and the Cadillac CTS, as well as its next-generation successor that’s believed to adopt the Cadillac CT5 nomenclature.
During the unveiling, not only did BMW emphasize the new model’s redesigned architecture, powertrain, driving dynamics and performance, but the Bavarian automaker also made it a point to highlight the model’s various technology features, including assistive driving and in-vehicle tech, the most notable being the first shipping iteration of wireless Apple CarPlay. In other words, BMW beat everyone else — including General Motors — to the punch in offering a cord-free CarPlay experience, no longer requiring an Apple Lightning cable to take advantage of the advanced phone integration feature set.
Apple CarPlay in a 2016 Cadillac CTS
“And smartphone integration has been further improved – from Apple CarPlay (which, in a first for a carmaker, has been incorporated fully wirelessly), to inductive phone charging and the WiFi hotspot for up to ten devices,” BMW started in its press release.
CarPlay works via BMW’s iDrive infotainment system by integrating phone, navigation, entertainment, as well as vehicle control and information features onto its central 10.25-inch touchscreen. Now in its fifth generation, the system enables drivers to interact with the system using the iDrive Touch Controller, voice commands, gestures, or by touching the screen. Though not specifically described by BMW, we would presume that CarPlay takes over part or all of that widescreen display when in use.
In addition to wireless CarPlay, the 2017 5 Series will also offer an inductive phone charging system based on the Qi standard. The automaker is even offering official BMW wireless charging cases for the iPhone 5/5s and iPhone 6/6s, which do not support inductive charging out of the box. Also available is a Wi-Fi hotspot capable of supporting 10 connected devices.
The GM Authority Take
BMW has been the one automaker with the slowest uptake of CarPlay, so this development is rather surprising. Here’s to hoping that GM — whcih was one of the first automakers in the world to adopt CarPlay — isn’t far behind in adopting the wireless variant across its own vehicles. To note, wireless Apple CarPlay has been available since the release of iOS 9, or for roughly a year.
Comments
Remember that new features in a car are AT LEAST a year old, more likely 6 years old.
New car programs typically take 3-5 years. Any tech that goes into a new car MUST be proven in the marketplace and in safety tests, THEN it has to be integrated into a vehicle program.
Most new features are integrated in a new architecture; some architectures have lasted multiple decades.
This is why mobile devices blow cars away – they have development cycles measured in months, not years. Vehicle components have dev cycles measured in months, but then you have to integrate them.
What you are describing is true of embedded tech and active safety systems, but does not apply to third party integrations like CarPlay or Android Auto.
These kinds of tech can be slipstreamed on the fly, even via an OTA update (for 4G LTE vehicles) if GM so desired. Apple CarPlay has “been proven” in the marketplace, with demand being higher than availability of vehicles with the system. Meanwhile, wireless CarPlay guidelines and standards have been available for integration for over 13 months at this point, more than enough time to integrate it into 2017 model year vehicles.
In all, GM has had a decent amount of time to integrate this logical update into a system demand for which is extremely high… and BMW beat them to it. The sad part is that GM was (and in many ways, still is) a leader in deploying CarPlay in the marketplace, while BMW has traditionally been the laggard.
Well tech like this is not difficult to install in a car and since they already have Apple Play there is no major obstetrical to adding this.
A feature like this does not need a new architecture to be put into a car.
As you note BMW did this in one car i expect GM has this going into many of these cars at once much like how they introduced Apple play.
The 6s has no wireless charging yet a and I am getting a 7 today that I believe still has no wireless charging. It is expected in the 8.
As shown here you have to use a special case for the wireless charging on an Apple so if anything they are behind and GM could be waiting on this.
Samsung is the leader in wireless charging and unfortunately fires at the moment.
As for much of this phone technology we will see it change in cars about as fast as the phones change. The My link in my 2012 is very old now compared to what is out. I expect the changes will be coming fast and often to the future car and in some cases automakers will really start to use this as a selling point.
We should see this in most of their products in 2 years and less.
They may be working also around future Apple Products too. The 8 is expected to be a major change and they may have targeted that model.