Soon, you’ll be able to talk to your BMW with new in-car AI tech

To keep your sanity on the road, as you sometimes drive alone for miles and miles, BMW is equipping its vehicles with an artificial intelligent (AI) Personal Assistant. It’s kind of like Samantha from the movie “Her.” That movie where the protagonist made his computer’s AI operating system his girlfriend? Only this time, it’s a car’s – oh, no. 

Through this AI Personal Assistant technology, you could talk to your car by simply prompting the system with “Hey, BMW.” It’s the same concept as with Alexa by Google and any other AI, you always need to let them know you’re talking to them by uttering a programmed prompt. The great thing about this tech is that it comes with 23 different languages.

However, it seems like BMW was serious when it said “personal assistant.” A plan in the future was stated, the German brand’s technology will adopt the concept of having a real personal assistant (PA). It wouldn’t just be in the car, you can talk to it at home via a smart speaker or through your phone when you’re out in the streets or in a mall. 

Behold, a PA you don’t need to feed and pay monthly. It’s super intelligent, too, minus the degree; efficient without having to reach exhaustion; basically, an ideal companion you can always count on when you need to know anything.

Among the things it can do is the ability to tour you around anywhere. Need a fuel refill? Hungry? Need a shot of joe? Just ask it and it will point you to the nearest spot, or whichever you prefer. It’s an entertainment geek, too. Say “Hey, BMW. Play a classical music.” and wait till you hear Mozart, Beethoven, and Bach in the background. 

Aside from those, it could also alert the driver if there are problems inside the car. Rather than hearing blips and tings and having to look up an icon to identify which one is, the system will already tell you right away. In addition to this, it could remind the owner about scheduled maintenance appointments or other agendas. 

Such a cool concept; we do hope local BMWs get it soon. Aside from that, “Hey, BMW. We want an M5; can you bring us an M5 in the office?"

Unfortunately, the BMW AI Personal Assistant will initially be available in the USA, Germany, UK, Italy, France, Spain, Switzerland, Austria, Brazil, Japan, and China. It will be launched in 2019 and would be featuring the new BMW iDrive 7.0 and is part of the Live Cockpit Professional.