On Wednesday, we told you about Groupe PSA's partnership with Soundhound to introduce natural language understanding capability to their range of cars namely Peugeot, Citroën, DS, Vauxhall and Opel.
The BMW Group is also jumping on the bandwagon with a BMW Intelligent Personal Assistant. From March 2019, BMW drivers and passengers will be joined by an intelligent, digital character that responds to the prompt “Hey BMW”.
The German car maker said it would mark the start of a new era for the group in which drivers will increasingly be able to operate their car and access its functions and information simply by speaking.
The personal assistant will also be able to assist the driver outside their vehicle, whether it’s at home with the help of a smart speaker or out and about via smartphone.
BMW claimed it would be compatible with other digital voice assistants beyond Amazon Alexa, providing a link to other rapidly growing ecosystems. The personal assistant’s capabilities is expanding as part of an ongoing effort by BMW’s Open Mobility Cloud and the use of artificial intelligence.
BMW said the range of functions and skills available would be constantly expanded as part of regular updates, which can be carried out seamlessly on a smartphone and in-car by Remote Software Upgrade.
Not only does the Intelligent Personal Assistant await the driver’s every command, he is always there to assist them and even provide casual conversation (“Hey BMW, what’s the meaning of life?”). He is familiar with the vehicle’s functions and is able to operate them as required. Saying “Hey BMW, I’m cold” will prompt the BMW Intelligent Personal Assistant to adjust the temperature inside the car accordingly.
The assistant will benefit from constant technical upgrades and be able to learn more and more preferences and favoured settings. The assistant takes further strides forward with every command given, every question asked and every setting made. Forming the basis for all of this will be the portable, digital customer profile – the BMW ID. This profile links the car to the customer and their digital world.
The Intelligent Personal Assistant will be available in a basic version with voice control in 23 languages and markets from March 2019. In the USA, Germany, UK, Italy, France, Spain, Switzerland, Austria, Brazil, Japan and (from May 2019) China, the BMW Intelligent Personal Assistant will also feature more natural voice control along with further intelligent functions.
The personal assistant will be offered for models featuring the new BMW Operating System 7.0 and as part of the Live Cockpit Professional (6U3). The scope of functions can be extended with the Connected Package Professional.
The personal assistant will be available to order for the new 3 Series from November 2018 and will be included for three years. From March 2019, new X5, Z4 and 8 Series models fitted with the BMW Operating System 7.0 will be able to install the full version of the BMW Intelligent Personal Assistant by remote software upgrade without having to visit a dealer.
