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CES 2024: BMW brings virtual world to the glasses - and promotes Valet Parking with Valeo

The Bavarians provide insights into development projects for digitized mobility in Vegas. For instance, through the integration of augmented reality glasses while driving, remote-controlled parking, and generative AI for voice assistance. Additionally, there are new apps with more video streaming and games.

On the AR Ride: Joint development demo with XREAL – the driving experience is enhanced with content that is overlaid into the real world using augmented reality glasses. | Photo: BMW Group
On the AR Ride: Joint development demo with XREAL – the driving experience is enhanced with content that is overlaid into the real world using augmented reality glasses. | Photo: BMW Group
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The BMW Group is also placing infotainment at the center of its appearance at CES 2024. New products for the current BMW model portfolio will be showcased. At the same time, the BMW Group will provide a glimpse into the future with demonstrations of innovative development projects: Visitors can remotely control a BMW iX over the "Silver Lot" at the exhibition grounds, discover the potential of augmented reality glasses as passengers during the ride, and experience new capabilities of the BMW Intelligent Personal Assistant enabled by generative AI, which uses the Alexa Large Language Models (LLM) to become the ultimate vehicle expert. Ready for the wearables of the future – extended driving experience with the "XREAL Air 2" augmented reality glasses.

For the first time, the Munich-based company will demonstrate at CES how augmented reality glasses (AR) can enhance the driving experience in the future. Visitors can test the applications of AR glasses on a drive through Las Vegas. Through the glasses, they will see how navigation and hazard warnings, entertainment content, information on charging stations, and visualizations to support parking maneuvers are embedded into the real environment by the "XREAL Air 2." AR and mixed reality (MR) devices will become increasingly popular in the coming years due to technological advancements and more accessible entry-level models. AR and MR devices will provide drivers and passengers with extended information and thrilling experiences supplementing the in-vehicle displays, promises the manufacturer. And they refer to their expertise: Since 2008, the group has been tracking the development of AR/MR technology and investigating the use of head-mounted displays in research projects.

First stable AR experiences in a dynamic vehicle

The engineers, together with their partners, have now managed to display stable augmented reality and mixed reality content to passengers in a dynamically moving vehicle for the first time. Even in challenging driving situations, such as when the vehicle turns, drives over bumps, or accelerates, the displayed image remains stably embedded in the environment. To achieve this, the tracking system of the respective AR/MR device must be connected to the vehicle's sensor data. In current models from BMW and MINI, the "Augmented View" function provides the driver with the best possible orientation during navigation on the display, featuring a live video stream augmented with additional information. In the highly innovative field of vehicle-related XR applications, the BMW Group has filed nearly 70 patents for the inventions of its developers in recent years.
 

Voice Assistance on the Next Level

At CES, the BMW Group and Amazon are presenting LLM features for voice assistants based on a current development project. This makes the BMW Intelligent Personal Assistant the ultimate vehicle expert thanks to generative AI supported by Alexa LLM. Visitors at CES will experience how the voice assistant provides quick instructions and answers about vehicle functions in a much more human, conversational manner while also being able to control some vehicle functions, according to the manufacturer. The BMW Intelligent Personal Assistant has long used artificial intelligence for voice processing. Complex processing capabilities that aim to enable human-like interactions and dialogues have not yet been integrated into the standard range. Such capabilities are now made possible by LLMs. These are AI models designed to process human language at a high level and generate appropriate responses. The BMW Group is consciously proceeding with caution in the rollout of generative AI in vehicles, the Bavarians explain. The goal is to offer customers a safe and trustworthy experience.

Creating Added Value with Digital Premium

The optional "BMW Digital Premium" offer, available with the BMW Operating System 9, allows customers access to an expanded range of the BMW ConnectedDrive Store. In addition to on-demand functions for the vehicle, it offers a continuously growing selection of third-party apps in the areas of music, news, and gaming for the infotainment system. Through this channel, additional games will now be available in the vehicle, which can be played with full-fledged gaming controllers in the future. At CES 2024, BMW is showcasing such a gaming experience for the first time: "Beach Buggy Racing 2" offers customers an action-packed racing game experience reminiscent of major console classics. In split-screen mode, two players can compete against each other in the vehicle with their gaming controllers. Common Bluetooth-enabled gaming controllers can be connected to the infotainment system in just a few steps. Controller integration will be available over the air for BMW Operating System 9 throughout 2024. BMW customers can already play single and multiplayer games in the vehicle with the AirConsole app.

Video Content on the Central Screen

In addition to the BMW Theatre Screen with integrated Amazon Fire TV in the rear of the BMW 7 Series, BMW customers can now also enjoy a wide range of video content on the central display. In just a few months, developers from the BMW Group, in collaboration with XPERI, Inc., have optimized the TiVo Operating System for video streaming in vehicles, a system already successful in the Smart TV sector. The result is the integration of the DTS AutoStage Video Service powered by TiVo. The entertainment offering includes both live channels and on-demand libraries in categories such as news, sports, children's entertainment, movies, and series. The platform initially launched in the new BMW 5 Series and is now being rolled out over-the-air to other high-end models. Since the end of 2023, customers with BMW Operating System 9 in compact class vehicles have had access to the video app in conjunction with BMW Digital Premium. Further vehicles, such as the BMW X2 and all models of the new MINI family, will follow throughout 2024.

Working with Valeo on Automated Valet Parking

The BMW Group and Valeo are working in a strategic partnership on the joint development of next-generation automated Level-4 parking solutions, which includes the development of solutions for automated valet parking (AVP). In this system, the customer leaves the vehicle at a designated drop-off point. From there, the vehicle autonomously takes over the search for a parking spot, performs the necessary maneuvers for parking and can also return to the pick-up point to hand the vehicle back to the driver. The underlying technology can either be an autonomous driving system or a remote-controlled valet system. Visitors to CES 2024 can try out remote-controlled valet parking for themselves. Remote control provides solutions in situations where fully autonomous systems may face significant challenges, such as in complex or unfamiliar environments.

Translated automatically from German.
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