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BMW ups feature creep with free real-time traffic reports
Filed under: Miscellaneous, BMW , Luxury
You wake up, it’s morning, and it’s time for work. You get ready, eat breakfast, get in your car, and start driving only to find that the freeway is jammed and you’re going to be late. The radio didn’t even start the traffic report yet because you live so close to the freeway on-ramps.
This has been the case for drivers since day one so what are automakers doing to help? Some brands, such as Acura and Cadillac, have installed a real-time traffic monitoring system in several of their vehicles. Unfortunately, they come with a monthly fee. Now Clear Channel has announced it is providing real-time traffic to BMW in an arrangement that makes BMW the first car maker to offer live traffic without a monthly fee. Clear Channel feels that it is going to help broaden the use of real-time traffic in cars because it has waved the monthly payments. “Every time we do surveys with consumers to find out what they want and don't want, the biggest negative is always the subscription fee. They'd rather pay a one-time fee and have real-time traffic included in the life of the vehicle,” states Jeff Littlejohn, Clear Channel senior director of product development. He adds that J.D. Power and Associates recently completed a study that found that consumers chose a $1,500 navigation option on a vehicle 29 percent of the time, but when real-time traffic was added (without a monthly fee) the take rate increased to 44 percent! Now that’s a jump. Real-time traffic will be available with the navigation systems in the BMW 3-,5- and 6-Series, X5, M5 and M6 models. Currently, real-time traffic fees run from $60 to $120 per year with built-in navigation system or on a portable GPS unit. Clear Channel says the BMW 6 series will offer real-time traffic as standard equipment while other models will offer it as an option. It is currently in negotiations with other automakers on its pricing system.
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