BMW is ready to claim that they are the first car manufacturer to offer fully, unrestricted, built-in access to the Internet. BMW is calling this new technology “ConnectedDrive”, which could connect you to the EDGE Internet. EDGE is used by many, and most notably Apple’s iPhone. However, EDGE, as you may or may not know, is not necessarily the fastest means of accessing the Internet, as 3G would be a more appropriate way of connecting to the Internet.
The UI within the car is going to be called the iDrive controller. Since this Internet would be unrestricted, you would be able to fully access any websites, check e-mail, and even be able to complete online bank transactions. A cool safety feature that BMW installed is that this Internet can only work when the car is parked. Another cool thing is that if the car comes with back seat DVD screens, then they can use the Internet as well, even if the car is in motion.
Unfortunately, the BMW cars installed with this technology is only available in Europe at this time. No word on costs of these cars or when we can expect this to come to the States.
Via [Autoblog]
Wow…wow! This is really cool looking. I wonder how long until an in-dash computer like this beauty is as common as owning an iPod… I plan on following this technology.