If you haven’t heard yet, Alexa BMW and Alexa Mini are nearing its launch, and we’re finding out more information as the date gets closer. So far, we know that this implementation of Alexa in the new BMW and Mini vehicles are going to be pre-installed directly into the car. This most likely means that there will be no wires, additional apps, or complicated setup. Reportedly, even a phone connection will not be needed, as vehicles with Alexa installed will be housing their own individual sim cards. The functions, which we’ll go over a bit later, are very similar to that of Siri eyes free.
Amazon’s Alexa BMW and Alexa Mini will be installed into upcoming 2018 models in the United States, United Kingdom, and Germany. If you aren’t looking to buy a brand new BMW just for the Amazon Alexa feature, there’s an alternative.
Alexa BMW Connected
In April of 2016, Amazon collaborated with BMW to bring Alexa into the “BMW Connected” application. While not directly installed into the vehicle, it allows simple car commands to be carried out through the Amazon Echo. Using your Echo at home, you could find out information about your car and even control it from your living room.
Some very useful questions:
Are my windows up?
Is my BMW locked?
When should I leave for my next trip?
Some very useful commands:
Lock the doors.
Activate climate control.
Send my next trip to the car.
Setting up BMW Connected to Amazon Alexa
Setting up the Alexa Skill is fairly simple, but there are a few restrictions. The first and most obvious requirement is you need a smartphone that supports Alexa.
Secondly, your vehicle must be a BMW that is a 2014 or newer model.
And lastly, you’ll need the BMW Connected App and Alexa App.
If you meet all of the prerequisites above, you’re set to go! Here’s what you need to do:
- Open Alexa App on your mobile device.
- Tap Menu then go to Skills.
- Alternatively, you can go to Alexa Skills Store on the Amazon website.
- Use the Search feature to look for BMW Connected
- Tap BMW Connected and select Enable Skill.
- BMW Connected will ask you to login to your BMW account. Enter your login information and hit Sign in.
- Done!
BMW Connected Uses
Now that you have Alexa connected to BMW Connected, you can talk to your vehicle from inside your house, wherever your Echo device is located. This might seem impractical at first, but it can actually come in very handy.
For example, you might be at home planning your next trip. You can check on the status of certain parts of your car, to see if you need to stop by anywhere. Alexa, ask BMW what’s my fuel range? That command will get you information about your gas which will tell you whether or not you need to make a pit stop at a gas station.
When you enter your home, you might not remember if you locked your car doors. It would be a tremendous hassle if you had to go all the way back to your car, especially if you live in an apartment and parked on the street a couple of blocks away. No problem, simply ask Alexa to ask BMW, Are my doors locked? If they aren’t, you can lock them from home by again, using Alexa: Alexa, ask BMW to lock the doors.
The same can be done with windows and the trunk.
Last but not least, you can also send a completed route to the car. Simply save your trip to your device, then tell Alexa to send the next trip to the car. Then you won’t have to fret with uploading trip details while you’re inside the car getting ready for take-off.
With all that said, there’s no reason NOT to get Alexa connected with BMW. It doesn’t add any fuss, but it definitely saves a lot of time.