AT&T has announced a new partnership with BMW that should add a few new sweet and safety-minded bells and whistles to your already sweet Beamer.
With a stated goal to wirelessly deliver an enhanced suite of “safety and infotainment” services to future BMW models, AT&T is looking to build upon BMW’s existing portfolio of connected services – known as BMW Assist. At present, those particular features include direct access to emergency and concierge call center services, traffic information and an online portal for weather forecasts, fuel prices, and news.
Once thought of as the exlusive province of high-end automobiles, connected features have rapidly spilled over into more modest vehicles. As result, the likes of BMW – in at least some aspects – are now playing catch-up to the more mundane rides and, in particular, family vehicles that have embraced connected technologies at a relatively fast yet comfortable pace in recent years.
For the time being, however, neither AT&T or BMW will say exactly what the “enhanced services” are or which vehicle models will boast the upgrades. Details will be made available at the time of launch.
“This is an exciting opportunity,” said Glenn Lurie, president, emerging devices, resale and partnerships, AT&T. “BMW has been an industry leader in the connected vehicle space for many years and we look forward to providing the wireless network that will keep drivers connected to the content and services they rely on.”
Contractual and financial details of the deal between AT&T and BMW were not immediately disclosed.
