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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?
BMW iDrive has versions 1 to 9, and now the newest really is OS X.
Yeah I read that now too. I just thought that it was weird that they went from “System 7…” up to “OS X” just like Apple did. But it’s just very plausible coincidence.
"Death" in mandarin is "Si". "4" is also "si", so it is considered a very unlucky number and nobody wants it in their phone number and other stuff.
"10" is "shi" which is close enough to "Si" that many people don't like it and will avoid it.
Number based gotta be one of my favorite superstition flavors.
I'm not superstitious. But I am a little stitious.
One of the article's sources has a link to this Reddit thread (view it on RedLib), which has someone recording the ad. The article also uses official BMW websites as sources.
P.S. that was a very boring ad
Thanks, a reply in that thread:
OP:
The advertisement is added as a whole app to watch later??
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.