BMW planning in-car advertisement app
We all know that advertisement and commercials in general are a bit of a necessary evil for our modern society, but there’s an over abundance and oversaturation of them everywhere we go already, they can’t stick them anywhere else except in our heads right? Well it appears that BMW are taking a slightly different approach and are developing an in-car advertising app, because that’s the one place where you’re surely to need distracting adverts, while driving.
The German company is working on software which will allow businesses to beliver their advertising to drivers via their vehicles’ navigation systems.
This research and technology project is dubbed the ‘Virtual marketplace of the future’ and is being worked on as potential new feature of the German carmaker’s ConnectedDrive system.
BMW have been careful with their messaging and have steered clear of the word ‘advertising’ when they talked about the software. They said that the goal of the research partnership with software manufacturer SAP is to “develop solutions for context-adaptive, personalized filtering of large volumes of real-time offers generated by location-based service providers”.
The app was tested in a MBW 7 Series development vehicle, allowing the drivers to set their preferences for customizing the filtering services and offers.
For instance, as the vehicle recognizes it is reaching the destination mentioned to the navigation system, it can request parking information and receive data on the availability of parking spots and fees. The app will also display recommendations based on the driver’s inputs and will allow for a location to be reserved and then this will become the new destination in the navigation system.
According to BMW the project could see future navigation systems capable of suggesting te best spots for cheap coffee and various sales at food, fashion and appliance stores. It is yet unclear if BMW is planning to gain any money from the app by allowing businesses to directly target their drivers with advertisements, but it’s pretty clear that this is where the idea will be going.
