BMW in mid-October announced it would partner with gaming platform AirConsole to equip its future cars’ infotainment display with video games, then a few days later pushed out an over-the-air (OTA) software update across nearly 4 million of its vehicles, improving several of their safety, infotainment, and navigation features.
The AirConsole partnership will see the German automaker let users run video games from that company’s catalog directly off their car’s infotainment systems, using their smartphone as a controller and the car’s large Curved Display as a screen. While BMW didn’t specify, the games would presumably only be accessible while the vehicle is not in motion—but to be fair, that would still make it, for example, a great time-killer while waiting for your iX EV to charge.
The automaker did not go into pricing details, but on other platforms, it typically offers a small selection of games for free; and a wider selection at a cost of roughly US$7.99 per month. BMW did say games would be instantly downloaded over-the-air, and that details would be fleshed out when the feature arrives in 2023.
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Also mid-October, BMW pushed out its latest OTA update to roughly 3.8 million of its vehicles. Remote Software Upgrade 07-22 means BMW EVs will now automatically offer an optimized route including a charger stop if the vehicle would otherwise not have sufficient range to make it to the desired destination.
Other improvements include changes to let the Front Collision Warning system on the iX and 2-Series Active Tourer react to oncoming vehicles to prevent collisions; and tweaks to the Lane Keeping Assistant function in models running BMW Operating System 7. Several aesthetic and connectivity improvements were also included in the update.
Keyword: BMW pushes software update, says video games coming soon