AirConsole in the BMW 5 Series at the Paris Motor Show 2024probeer

For almost one and a half years, the gaming platform has been available in various BMW and MINI models Air Console installed. I was able to see the whole thing at the Paris Motor Show 2024probeer

AirConsole offers over 20 mini-games in BMW and MINI models, which can support multiplayer modes and are controlled with a smartphone. The library is available in Germany on all BMWs with Operating System 9 and BMW Digital Premium, on all MINIs with Operating System 9 and the MINI Connected Package and on all BMWs with Operating System 8.5 and ConnectedDrive Professional.

AirConsole first impression

AirConsole is a standalone app in the car's operating system. After opening it, you are immediately greeted by the selection of games. My opponent, Rutger Besterveld, Product Owner Customer for Entertainment at BMW and MINI, and I decided on "UNO Car Party", which has only been part of the portfolio since August of this year. A QR code then appeared to connect the smartphones.

To control the games, we recommend downloading the AirConsole app, which is available for iOS and Android. The app is not absolutely necessary, however, as I simply played via the web app in Safari on my iPhone 15 Pro Max. I didn't notice any differences compared to the app that Mr. Besterveld used in the passenger seat. One advantage of the app, however, is that you can't accidentally end up in the browser's address bar or other elements.

And after less than five minutes, it started. In the case of "UNO Car Party," each player sees their deck of cards on their own cell phone. The stack with the current card is visible on the infotainment display. The game is played by dragging and dropping the cards, which always worked very well and smoothly. My only problem was that I didn't always know where to look at the beginning. But I quickly got used to it.

Picture: BMW

A big plus point about AirConsole is that the games are all very simple and you can therefore get used to them quickly. Furthermore, using the smartphone as a controller is very intuitive and makes sense, as it offers many more options than just inputs on the infotainment screen. You are also much more flexible than with a physical controller, as you basically always have your smartphone with you.

Future of Gaming in BMWs and MINIs

At the trade fair, I also had the opportunity to speak to Mr. Besterveld about the company's ambitions in the gaming sector. Of course, I couldn't find out any detailed plans, but I did get two exciting insights.

The first thing is that they are internally investigating the possibility of offering triple-A games in the car. Mercedes already wants to enable something similar with the Boosteroid platform, but with BMW and MINI it still requires a lot of development time. I was also told that they are internally researching how to create AirConsole sessions across a car. In the future, it could be possible, for example, to race against drivers of other vehicles at the charging station.

As already mentioned at the beginning, the AirConsole is available on all recent versions of BMW OS and MINI OS with the respective equipment packages.