804
BMW Is Showing Full-Screen Ads on Its Cars' Main Dashboard Control Display
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this post was submitted on 31 Jul 2026
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Has anyone actually seen these ads in the BMW, as described?
This article seems fishy to me. Especially this part:
“System 7, 8, 8.5, 9, or OS X” are exact versions of MacOS, dating back to 1991. Why would BMW’s software versioning match Apple’s exactly? I mean it could be a coincidence, but it’s weird. Especially “OS X.”
Not that I’d put it past any car manufacturer to do this, capitalism gonna capitalize. But I thought the EU was more obnoxious about controlling/preventing things like this. Or does BMW get a pass since they’re a European brand?
I went to the first source of the article that is mentioned
https://www.press.bmwgroup.com/usa/article/detail/T0459681EN_US/bmw-brings-modern-mobility-to-the-sony-pictures-film-%E2%80%9Cspider-man%E2%84%A2:-brand-new-day%E2%80%9D
So what this means BMW is partnering with Disney for spiderman.
As far as I understand it the spiderman animation is not presented in a disturbing way and rather something one can access when they want to.
So yes it is an ad but also not yet intrusive advertisement that disturbs the usage.
Yeah I should have clicked through to the source article. Good call.
My theory on the System / OS numbers being suspect was nothing. Just a coincidence. I should’ve known.
The article does seem to be rage bait though. Or at least its enraging to those who didn’t read the article thoroughly. It’s not as if the driver is being pestered with ads. An unobtrusive banner on one screen that is only visible when the vehicle starts up is hardly a “full screen ad” being forced on drivers.
I'm sorry, but to me, a banner ad across my car's screen is far too much. There should be zero ads from my car manufacturer in my car.Full stop. This is probably going to be the start of more ads creeping into the car.
BMW tried the heated seat subscription service. I wouldn't be surprised if they offer the ad free infotainment service in the next 5 years.
This is what happened in mine (i think is system 7). A notification popped up (the same type you get for the xmas and halloween type of videos). You can choose to ignore it, or click on it and watch the video.