Web at the wheel

摘要

Of all the problems drivers face, being locked out of the car may not seem that serious, but BMW reckons it has to deal with 7,000 such call-outs every year in Germany alone. Vehicle locking and unlocking is part of a package of remote services the carmaker is introducing that will include a vehicle finder function and even a remote climate control service. The manufacturer will introduce the service from autumn this year as part of its ConnectedDrive package. Once customers have registered and set up four security questions, they can contact a call centre and ask them to communicate with the car's telematic control unit. Commands beam to the vehicle's SIM card, through the MOST databus and then to the CAN databus. Open sesame. The ability to identify the vehicle as a client from a remote host has already made it possible for BMW Teleservice diagnostics to troubleshoot misbehaving cars remotely via ConnectedDrive. Last September BMW extended the automated Teleservice Call, where the car tells a dealer it needs a service, by adding a manual function that lets the driver do so at their convenience.