Mobile Connectivity Is Changing Driver Experiences Forever

BWMi’s Dirk Arnold explains how customers’ expectations to be always connected to everything, including during their car journeys, are prompting brands to innovate around this need.

Being connected on the move is now so integral to nearly every consumer’s life that brands who fail to innovate around this need for constant connection will not deliver exciting new customer experiences.

That was the warning Dirk Arnold, vice-president of BMWi, offered to Dmexco delegates at Cologne, Germany. He likened the traditional car, for example, to a telephone box which now needs to offer users new services.

“In a telephone box, you’re connected, but you can only call, it’s very frustrating for users who expect to be connected to everything all the time,” he said. “They feel they have this in the rest of their lives, so why should they put up with not being connected in their car?”

Mobility has prompted BMW to launch connected services to its cars, including the new electric i range.

“Our electric car, the i3, is connected for everything, for navigation, routing, traffic, and remote functions,” said Arnold.

“However, we don’t think that is where it should stop. We have unveiled what we see as the future of connected motoring with our BMW i Vision Future interaction concept. It turns the self-driving car into your office, so the windscreen becomes your computer screen. It learns, so if you usually take a route and there is congestion that day, it will warn you. When you get home, it will also talk to your smart home, so, for example, your home screens know what your schedule is and can programme it into your car automatically.”

When asked how all this data collected by monitoring user-behaviour will impact marketing, Arnold was quick to point out that it will not.

“Being fully connected is about user experience, not marketing,” he said. “It’s all about using the data to make a better experience for the owner. It’s about their experience, not the brand’s marketing.”

For more of CMO.com’s coverage from Dmexco, click here.