Microsoft partners with BMW to put Skype in cars

By Tom Warren - The Verge

Microsoft is expanding its partnership with BMW to enable Skype for Business in cars that use BMW’s iDrive system. BMW was one of the first car makers to enable Office 365 services in its cars, and this latest feature will let owners take Skype meetings in their cars through the built-in entertainment system.

The system will work by triggering notifications for meetings, allowing drivers to dial-in without having to enter the conference number details manually. BMW will also enable tighter integration with calendars, contacts, and to-do lists all from Microsoft’s Exchange service. BMW is planning to enable the Skype for Business feature in France, Germany, and the UK initially before it expanding it to other countries.

BMW also revealed earlier this year that it plans to integrate Microsoft’s Cortana digital assistant into some cars as part of Microsoft’s Connected Vehicle vision. BMW is planning to let drivers access Cortana through a dashboard screen, with the ability to easily access to-do lists, reminders, news, events, and other Cortana features.