Remote Software Upgrade for 1.3 million BMW Vehicles

Jun 4, 2021

June marks the start of the rollout of the new BMW Remote Software Upgrade for 1.3 million vehicles with BMW iDrive 7. This activates Amazon Alexa integration in four additional markets, including the USA. The upgrade also includes improvements, such as the integration of the traditional destination entry in BMW Maps.

Amazon Alexa Integration for Four More Countries

The upcoming BMW Remote Software Upgrade will update BMW iDrive 7 to Version 21-03. The rollout will start in Germany in June 2021 and gradually cover more BMW Connected Drive markets worldwide. In total, more than 1.3 million BMW vehicles (and more than 20 models) will receive the upgrade.

Customers will be able to use many of the Alexa features in their car they know and love at home: add items to shopping lists, check the news, play music or control compatible smart home devices from the car. So far, Alexa has been available for BMW iDrive 7 vehicles in Germany, Austria, Great Britain, Spain and Italy. This upgrade adds four more countries to the list – France, the USA, Canada and Brazil.

BMW Maps with One-Box Address Search and Entry

The BMW Maps navigation system was introduced for model year 2021 vehicles with BMW iDrive 7. The cloud-based system makes route calculation significantly faster and more dynamically by combining real-time information with predictive models. The cloud also contains additional context-related information on now over 120 million points of interest, such as ratings, opening hours and images. The POI database is updated and kept up-to-date several times a week.

The easiest way to enter the destination with the BMW Intelligent Personal Assistant is by using natural speech. With BMW Maps, additional improvements in terms of ease of use via touch or BMW controller have been implemented. The One-Box Search is being used for the first time here. This allows customers to search for the addresses and names of places, as they are used to with when entering text in web search engines. Algorithms are used to filter the applicable database to display the probable suggestions already during input (auto-completion).

Many BMW customers also wanted the familiar screen appearance for destination entry
(country, place, street, house number) back. BMW always aims to offer its customers the best possible customer experience. The traditional search was thus redeveloped in BMW Maps and is now available again in addition to the one-box search.

This update for BMW Maps is activated after installing the current BMW Remote Software Upgrade.

Additional Functional Improvements

One of the improvements provided by this upgrade is that the Lane Departure Warning settings can now be saved permanently. If customers do not wish to benefit from the Lane Departure Warning, they can disable the function in the settings. From now on, the deactivation remains stored in the corresponding, activated BMW ID. The function is only reactivated if the customer makes the corresponding change in the settings.

Another improvement that comes with this update of BMW iDrive corrects a display error when playing media with Android smartphones paired via Bluetooth (with Android 11). After the upgrade, the cover art is processed correctly when music tracks are changed.

In some vehicle models with BMW iDrive 7 the Surround View on the control display was not positioned correctly. This has also been corrected as part of the quality improvements.

General Notes on the BMW Remote Software Upgrade

With BMW iDrive 7 and BMW Remote Software Upgrade, it has been possible for BMW drivers to keep their vehicle up-to-date with the latest software easily and quickly since 2018. The new functions can be conveniently installed in the car over the air. The installation files are prepared in the vehicle in the background. After that, even the installation of extensive upgrades will rarely take more than 20 minutes.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic – with its impact on support capacities – the rollout of the current upgrade may be delayed in individual markets.

Vehicles with BMW iDrive 7 produced since March 2021 already have the latest software version.

Customers are informed about available Remote Software Upgrade via the My BMW App or on the control display in the vehicle. In addition, the software status can be viewed in the vehicle settings under Remote Software Upgrade and a search for available upgrades can be carried out. Remote Software Upgrade is now available for more than 20 BMW models and thus almost for the entire BMW fleet.

Vehicles with software versions older than 20-07 can only install the latest version after downloading and installing the intermediate versions. Only the next possible upgrade is offered for installation in the vehicle. The customer can never install a wrong version.