BMW Group, AWS partner to develop new cloud technologies

The BMW Group and AWS (Amazon Web Services) have established a strategic partnership to develop innovative cloud technologies with an aim to harness the data potential of future vehicle generations to maximum effect.

Additionally, the two firms are working together to create commercial, ready-to-use cloud solutions for safely handling vehicle data.

The partnership signifies the continuance of the two businesses’ 2015-started connected car engagement. Like in all prior cooperation, the BMW Group maintains complete and sole control over data and complies with local market-specific data protection laws.

BMW’s connected fleet currently numbers some 20 million vehicles in over 50 countries including the Middle East. Currently, the connected fleet of BMW Group vehicles already sends around 10 billion enquiries to the backend – as the IT infrastructure in the cloud for operating and managing the connected vehicle functions is known – every day.

Vehicle data and the way it is interlinked with the cloud form the basis for customer functions such as the My BMW App, driver assistance functions, charging-optimised route guidance, over-the-air updates and hazard detection out on the road. Vehicle data is essential for the company too, as it is used for dedicated purposes, including improving and enhancing customer functions, quality management and after-sales processes.

Data protection
In order to keep pace with the rapidly growing number of connected vehicles, the BMW Group set up a central access point for internal users of vehicle-generated data in 2017. In doing so, it took steps to ensure that customer data is protected and securely processed in accordance with data privacy requirements by means of established processes – across all the markets in which the company operates. In this latest collaboration, AWS provides cloud infrastructure and services without access to or insight into data generated by the BMW Group’s connected vehicle fleet.

Nicolai Krämer, vice president Vehicle Connectivity Platforms: “We already have around 20 million extensively connected vehicles on the road today. When the ‘Neue Klasse’ is launched, our offboard cloud platform, powered by AWS, will process roughly triple the volume of vehicle data compared to the current generation of BMW models. Together with AWS, we will continue to create innovative solutions, allowing us to develop new, data-driven functions and make them available to customers faster.”

Innovative and digital experiences
In the future, a self-service portal will enable BMW Group developers working on data-driven improvement of customer functions, for example, to obtain the necessary data on demand with just a few clicks. Through the use of AWS services and with reliable infrastructure in place, the portal will operate efficiently and smoothly, allowing the BMW Group, allowing the BMW Group engineers and data experts to focus entirely on data content and quality. In addition, data is also made available to third parties — subject to customer consent — for possible applications.

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