MINI Connected vs CarPlay vs Alexa

I just wanted to thank you again for this, I finally tried it out on a whim today, and I have to admit that the integrated MINI NAV works better than I expected. There is very little lag, and having all the info up on the HUD is kind of a game changer (compared to glancing over to the right all the time). Also, she seemed to pronounce most of the local toponymy quite well compared to both Apple and Google. There are a lot of French names, French words, and oddball French abbreviations on signs and maps up here that Google and Apple absolutely mangle every time. I’d like to believe that whoever programmed the navigation in iDrive actually wrote down the correct words or perhaps phonetic spellings. I didn’t even bother using the comic book style integrated map on the center display, so I switched that back to my CarPlay screens with my music and notifications. Awesome.

 

I created a couple of Alexa routines to streamline the use of the My BMW skill.

Somehow it escaped me that multiple trigger phrases could be assigned to one action. Because the car uses automatic climate control, ambient temperature determines the system’s output temperature. Having multiple trigger phrases helps with contextual logical association, and not needing to think about the trigger phrase, ie: needing to say “climatize” or “warm” in the summer or “cool” in the winter. So this routine is called “Warm or cool my MINI”; the trigger phrases are “Alexa, warm up my car,” (winter) and “Alexa, cool down my car,” (summer) while the action is the voice command “Alexa, ask BMW to ventilate my Cooper.”

I’ve set up similar routines that allow more natural flow, with trigger phrases such as “Alexa, what’s my charge at?” (“Alexa, ask BMW for my charge level”) and “Alexa, did I lock up?” (“Alexa, ask BMW my status”) and “Alexa, lock the car” (“Alexa, ask BMW to lock my doors”). I have also simplified checking my windows and what the charge is at. I also have a routine with several triggerphrases of variations on checking my range, using more natural language.

I don’t know why none of this occurred to me over the last six months or so.