Skype is coming to BMW cars.
It’s the product of ongoing collaboration between the car maker and Microsoft, which partnered up last year to get BMW Connected, BMW’s in-car software platform, running on Microsoft Azure cloud computing services. Now, the companies have announced that Skype for Business will make its way into BMW 5 series cars in Germany, the UK, and France, and additional markets soon after.
Announcing the functionality in a blog post, Microsoft indicated that together with the integration of the Microsoft Exchange email service, Skype for Business’s arrival in new BMW cars will give drivers “a new way to securely and safely extend their daily digital lives across their homes, their cars and workplaces.”
It’s another indication of BMW’s aspirations in helping to lead the smart car revolution, with the company recently having teamed up with IBM to integrate the IT giant’s AI technology into its car diagnostics platform. Microsoft, meanwhile, announced this spring that it would start licensing connected car technology to car makers, with BMW’s Skype integration evidently being a related effort as Microsoft maneuvers into the smart car market.
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