BMW today announced during their “Innovation Days” event in Chicago that they will be teaming up with Microsoft to bring Skype for Business to the new BMW 5 series. This all comes after Microsoft and BMW previously partnered with the technology giant in 2016 to create the Open Mobility platform and help drivers who rely on Office 365 at work to extend the services to their BMW car.
The Skype for Business Functionality will be integrated into BMW’s iDrive system, with availability coming first in Germany, France, and the UK, and other markers soon. Owners of the new BMW 5 series (introduced in December 2016) can already enjoy Office 365 communications and collaboration services through Microsoft Exchange, so this is great news for them.
“There are more than 100 million commercial monthly active users of Office 365 and many of those businesspeople use Skype for Business to facilitate meetings and calls at work. Using those services on the go will be even easier with BMW’s cars that have the ability to alert the driver of upcoming meetings, ” explained Ulrich Homann, Distinguished Architect, Cloud + Enterprise, at Microsoft.
It’s safe to say that this latest BMW and Microsoft partnership will serve as an example of what’s to come in the future of connected car technology.
