A few months ago, BMW announced that starting with its 2019 Model Year cars, it will start charging a monthly fee to use the Apple CarPlay system. As of yesterday, BMW’s ConnectedDrive website is advertising fees of $80 for 12 months of Apple CarPlay service or a 240-month membership for $300.
Until now, BMW charged a one-time fee of $300 to add Apple CarPlay capability to navigation-equipped BMW models.
All new BMWs with 7.0 now come with a year’s free CarPlay subscription, but after the first 12 months owners will have to decide whether to allow the subscription to lapse, or pay to continue to access it.
CarPlay is designed to offer a near-handsfree experience for drivers, with the car’s infotainment screen mirroring many aspects of an iPhone’s functionality – bringing apps such as Spotify and Google Maps into the car’s built-in screen, and making them accessible via voice commands.
BMWs currently are not compatible with Android Auto, although the company did announce its plans to integrate Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa services into its vehicles.
[Source: CarandDriver]
