BMW will be the first automaker to use Amazon Web Services’ cloud software to manage data from its connected vehicles, the companies announced Thursday.
BMW will be the first automaker to use Amazon Web Services’ cloud platform
The German automaker is signing on to use AWS’s software to process data from millions of its connected cars. BMW’s ‘Neue Klasse’ electric vehicles will be the first to feature the new data processing service.
The German automaker is signing on to use AWS’s software to process data from millions of its connected cars. BMW’s ‘Neue Klasse’ electric vehicles will be the first to feature the new data processing service.
is transportation editor with 10+ years of experience who covers EVs, public transportation, and aviation. His work has appeared in The New York Daily News and City & State.
BMW says it has roughly 20 million connected vehicles on the road today. The AWS software will be integrated into BMW’s “Neue Klasse” platform for its future lineup of electric vehicles. This platform will “process roughly triple the volume of vehicle data compared to the current generation of BMW models,” Nicolai Krämer, vice president of vehicle connectivity platforms at the BMW Group, said in a statement.
This platform will “process roughly triple the volume of vehicle data compared to the current generation of BMW models”
Modern vehicles run more on software than ever before, powering features such as telematics, navigation, and advanced driver-assist features. Automakers are increasingly striking licensing deals with Silicon Valley’s software giants to better manage all the data these vehicles are generating. The data is used to develop new digital products to sell to their customers as well as lay the groundwork for more autonomous driving features in the future.
Amazon said it is targeting other car companies as clients for its software, pitching the AWS cloud platform as an easy way to collect vehicle data, manage large fleets of vehicles, and improve the maintenance and repair process. The platform can also enable automakers to deliver “advanced vehicle features and more personalized driver experiences at lower costs,” Amazon says.
The companies also say AWS’s cloud is more secure than that of competing software providers, claiming it will be impervious to hacking or other cybersecurity breaches. According to BMW and Amazon:
Only the BMW Group’s internal domain experts — vehicle application developers, fleet managers, data scientists, and artificial intelligence, business intelligence, and development engineers — gain access to the data via a self-service mechanism that gathers streaming vehicle data, easily adds new data sources, configures access in accordance with governance policies, and monitors the quality and health of streaming sources.
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