The Strategist

Watch Your Car: BMW and Porshe Show Up with Apple Watch App for Cars



04/27/2015 - 17:28



Barely a few days after the opening hours of Apple Watch have come, but leading automakers already rushed to come up with their apps for the gadget. BMW brand utility iRemote was one of the first, which is designed for remote monitoring and control i-series models.



raneko via flickr
raneko via flickr
The tool is designed for electrical i-Series BMW models owners.

Having installed the above mentioned application, the owners of BMW i3 and i8 are able to control the level of charge on-board batteries, get information about the current reserve, remote control door locks and climate control, raise and lower the windows and panoramic roof, as well as remotely turn on heating or cooling the cabin.

In addition, the i Remote application help find your car in the parking lot, calculate the way to it, or allow to remotely turn on the parking lights and beep for you to figure out where to go.
 
Porsche brand came up with similar application to Apple Watch almost simultaneously with BMW. It is expected that other key car brands will release similar utilities in the coming days or weeks.

The more so because there are all the technical prerequisites. For example, a new generation of democratic Skoda Fabia have the technology SmartGate, which now allows the owner to receive on the smartphone detailed information on cars, up to statistical ‘speed up’ acceleration or the presence of failures in the motor. What prevents transfer it to Apple Watch? So, we wait for a new era of "communication with cars."

In April, Porsche was one of the last who dared to installe in their car Apple CarPlay multimedia system. The novelty will appear on future models of Porsche. Other brands, owned by Volkswagen, took a positive decision on this issue before.
 
Porsche’s representatives said that creating an application will be a new step in the development of the service under the name Porsche Car Connect and today there is a new version of the program for the new gadget. Now it becomes possible to start the car without key using Apple Watch clockwork will, and also to make a number of other procedures. For example, you can operate the central locking system, turn off the engine, open and close doors, turn on the alarm and dimensions, as well as to find the vehicle on the map with Find My Car application.

To call the watch into play, the user need to connect them to the iPhone via Bluetooth, but first Porsche Car Connect application must be installed, which will be available to users free of charge. To date, this app only works with Cayenne, Panamera, Macan and 918 Spyder vehicles. However, after some time, other models owners will be able to use the app as well.

source: www.usatoday.com