Vodafone Germany SIM fitted in BMW ConnectedDrive cars
From summer 2012 all new BMW cars in Germany will be fitted with M2M SIMs supplied by Vodafone Germany. The Vodafone SIM will provide customers with access to in-car services such as the BMW Online Services, a concierge service for BMW drivers and an emergency call function.
The five-year agreement between Vodafone Germany and the BMW Group involves fitting SIM cards within the vehicles at the assembly plant. The service being provided by Vodafone is based on machine-to-machine technology, which allows different devices to communicate with each other.
A Vodafone press release said that in the futur this technology will become even more crucial for the automotive sector with the introduction of ‘eCall’ – the automatic vehicle emergency call system in that is being planned by the European Union. From 2015 onwards, all new cars will be fitted with latest mobile data connection and SIM card that automatically calls the emergency services in the event of an accident.