BMW makes the development of its new vehicle operating system a top priority. To this end, the Bavarian car manufacturer has created a new department called “Digital Car”, which now reports directly to the development department. Since October there are 4000 programmers and employees with a successor for the current 2018 introduced OS7 busy, reports the Handelsblatt.

Strength across software As one The effort has to be called a show of strength, because a wide variety of systems are currently still being used in parallel, which often only take on one function of the vehicle and usually come from the supplier of the component in question. BMW is now trying to write an overarching software that should be used to control as many functions as possible.

It should also be ready for installation without a predecessor, so to speak before the group launches its first battery-electric iX model 2021 on the market. There will also be even more control than in conventional cars, due to new functions and extended operation via voice and screens and, last but not least, autonomous driving functions at level 3, including the possibility of expanding them. In addition, it should be ensured that the operating system can be kept completely up-to-date in all of its branches. As with the current OS7, this should be done “over-the-air”, with the possibility of accelerating the whole thing using the 5G cellular standard, wherever it is already available.

Google’s platform is out of the question The operating system will essentially run with Linux, but it will be able to output the user interfaces of Google’s Android services. This is important because customers expect their smartphones to be easily integrated into the car. How far BMW would like to push the embedding is, according to the Handelsblatt, an open question, so although one is thinking about the consideration of the “Android-Automotive-Open-Source-Platform”, the takeover of “Google Automotive Services” would go too far for BMW . The car should continue to be perceived as a BMW in its operation at all times.

(fpi )