This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Oh great. Most BMW drivers are already distracted and incompetent enough. This bullshit will just make them an even bigger hazard.
All those electric car owners missing out on the gas station pump ads can finally feel included.
Imagine paying the kind of prices that car manufactures demand, and then they shove ads in your face on your own property. I would drive it back to the dealership & demand a refund.
You can probably have an ad-free system for a monthly subscription.
Wankers.
That's Bayerische Motoren Wankers AG to you.
It's crazy that few days ago I learned what BMW stands for and now I see it everywhere.
I thought it was Bavarian Motor Works or something? Logo was a propeller? No? This is what I’ve always known it to be.
Remember when they tried to make you rent the heated seats you already have?
Maybe they will offer a commercial-free subscription service.
~~Maybe~~ they will offer a commercial-free subscription service.
Ftfy
If have to watch ads it’s not a luxury car, it’s a Kia in a suit.
I don't watch ads in my Hyundai. That makes it worse than Kia/Hyundai.
The only cars I see ads in are borrowed from Europcar and are basic pieces of shit. So I guess BMW is around there now.
You have to watch the commercial before you can access the turn signals, right?
That would explain some things.
It's kinda weird how this slogan got so much cultural traction. Years later and it's still a meme. I guess because it's irrelevant to the issue - IIRC it was about piracy - and also because it's completely wrong. I would absolutely download a car if I could. So would pretty much everyone.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Wouldn't_Steal_a_Car?wprov=sfti1
Copyright concerns
It was reported that the music in the announcement was itself used without permission.However, one source disputes this, saying the reporting is the result of conflation regarding a different anti-piracy ad that used stolen music composed in 2006.
The "ransom note" typeface used in the campaign was FF Confidential, designed by the Dutch typographer Just van Rossum. Reports arose in 2025 that the copy of the font used to design the commercial may not have been properly licensed. In April 2025, Sky News reported via extraction from old campaign PDFs that the actual font used was Xband-Rough, a widely-distributed pirated version of FF Confidential. Van Rossum was aware of the font Xband-Rough, but was unaware that the advert has used the pirated font and described its use as "hilarious". According to a different investigation by journalists, the pirated font was only in a domestic campaign by the British Federation Against Copyright Theft, who had no involvement in the making of the original PSA. The Federation responded by saying that everyone involved in the creation of the announcement was no longer at the organization.
Imagine this: when you start your car, you're forced to watch a 30 second commercial. Your car already has eye tracking, which actually is a good safety feature, but we'll be using this to make sure you're watching the entire time.
If you stop watching, it will change to a 1 minute long commercial instead. If you still don't watch the entire time, we might just start an even longer commercial.
Or better yet: your inattention is enough reason for us to turn off your car. Lawmakers can't ban this now, because it's a secondary safety feature: you don't have enough attention to mindlessly watch a 30 second commercial, so you're obviously not alert enough to operate a motor vehicle. Think of the kids.
Damn, I need to be like Sony and get a patent on this, just to stop anyone else from doing it.
Even Black Mirror wouldn't go this far because it's too banal, but Sony would
I've had Yanks tell me that my BYD is evil because I don't really own it, that I have to pay a subscription, that it has ads
None of which is true
You know who's pulling that sort of shit?
Other manufacturers.
NOT BYD
Same here. My car always works, I don't need an account for it, all the features supported by the hardware are available for my use whenever I want. Here's the kicker, WITHOUT an internet connection. We have 2 BYDs, a 2023 HAN and a 2023 TANG.
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. . ?
Boss: "Why are you late today?"
Employee: "My BMW was showing ads every 10 minutes. It was difficult to drive."
Boss: "Fair enough.".
...
If your car connects to the Internet, and has controls on a screen - then it's not your car.
I can't WAIT to never buy a smart car
This will really help BMW to drive up their sales. I can't believe their sales increased in North America, whereas the sales dropped off the cliff in China. Not just BMW, all traditional car manufacturers got hammered.
I guess that's what happens if you are very limited in choice of cars (for clarification I meant the US of course).
http://autofreak.com/vw-bmw-mercedes-china-sales-collapse-q2/
I would hack my car to get rid of this shit, absolutely.
What models? I have an i4 and I have never been hit with this or those subscription services everyone kept talking about. I wonder if it is happening only in certain models.
It's not shown in the actual article, but the first source that they provide for references says this.
Bernd Körber, Senior Vice President BMW Brand and Product Management, says: “The launch of the Neue Klasse and Spider-Man™: Brand New Day could not be more fitting. Both stand for a bold new beginning and the confidence to shape what comes next. We are proud to accompany this new Spider-Man™ chapter with the BMW iX3, our first model of the Neue Klasse.”```
So it seems like it's the Ix3 series. and maybe the 5 series because they indirectly mention it later on
What a dumb move. All this does is discourage me from getting another BMW when my lease is up.
Got it on a 4-series petrol.
Is suspect the model year is more relevant. How new is your vehicle?
2025 model year
It's possible this will show up in a software update, or maybe you'll just be spared.
They said this about Jeep products. I found two people (admittedly a small sample) who had brand new Jeeps and asked if they saw ads on their vehicles entertainment systems and neither of them knew what I was talking about.
It sounds like it was just a specific message about the extended warranty which was showing up too often due to a glitch. Not quite the same as more general ads.
https://www.kbb.com/car-news/jeep-owners-fed-up-with-in-car-pop-up-ads/
