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BMW Is Showing Full-Screen Ads on Its Cars' Main Dashboard Control Display
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this post was submitted on 31 Jul 2026
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Maybe a dumb question but can these cars be reprogrammed with some other software or whatever? Or could the car be manipulated to not show an ad or unlock your seat warmers or something?
No. The software is deeply embedded and locked down tight. There is no reliable means of interfacing with it beyond what is exposed in the touchscreen interface. Only BMW dealers using their proprietary software can do anything and even they are limited to what is exposed to them. This is the same with all modern cars. Sorry.
It's even more infuriating when you get to Volkswagen and the same tools are locked down for certain cars based on the branding alone.
A Volkswagen dealer cannot program a Skoda or Audi or Porsche - even though all of them have the same hardware and software.
Also, can the ad connection be hacked to show, for example, regular reminders that the president is a rapist. . ?