Comment by enos_feedler | Hacker News Reader

Comment by enos_feedler | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

BMW went on stage at WWDC this year to talk about Digital Key for the car. Their marketing page said it works on all 2021 models. The detailed list says Series 1, 2, 3, etc.. I thought this feature is really cool. I am going to buy this car for it. I talked to 2 dealers and confirmed the feature. I looked up all the info online but could not find any more details. I bought a 2021 m240i for $50,000 USD. I could have got a heavily discounted 2020 model off the lot. But no, I wanted to be _sure_ I got the digital key. I was really looking forward to using this feature. Guess what.. no digital key. Frantically go searching the marketing pages. I now find a compatibility table buried deep in their web site (this document didn't exist at time of purchase) where it has a #7 footnote on the series 2: must be 235i cars running iDrive 7.

Thanks BMW! Get your shit together! Anyway, this anecdote is just a taste of what is coming for the car industry. Carplay is only a small preview of the level of integration consumers are going to expect over the next 5-10 years. If they can't sort out a digital key across their lineup, they are kind of fucked.

IOT is going to utterly trash the auto industry (which admittedly is already in poor shape) and make an even larger mess of the environment by turning cars into pre-mature waste - because you mentioned, it's not been thoughtfully implemented (and I doubt will be).

Think that digital key is going to work in 20 years when you're on iOS 44 or whatever? I'd be genuinely shocked.

> Carplay is only a small preview of the level of integration consumers are going to expect over the next 5-10 years. If they can't sort out a digital key across their lineup, they are kind of fucked.

Oh absolutely. The infotainment system of the German premium automakers is utter trash. It's slow, overwhelming and incredibly tedious to use. My family owns five cars, a BMW, an Audi, a Seat and 2 VW, except for one VW they are all fairly new. The BMW and the Audi infotainment system are equally bad, by far the best ones are integrated in the Volkswagen vehicles. But when comparing them with competitors like Tesla, they still suck.

I don't like Tesla, but credit where credit is due. They software concept for their vehicles is innovative, thought out and incredibly feature rich. If this is what VW, Daimler and BMW aim for, they still have an incredibly long way to go.

If it's any conciliation personally I think you have the nicer car mechanically. The m240i is a rwd straight 6 with the legendary zf 8hp gearbox whilst the newer m235i is an awd 4 cylinder with some inferior aisin gearbox.

Thanks! I think so too which is why I didn't put up a fuss about it. I really wanted this car a lot. Lot's of therapy sessions to get over the fact I need to use a real key though.

Is it possible for your to return the car and get a different model since the dealership obviously lied to you? Seems like a huge premium to pay for a non-existent feature.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com