This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Imagine paying the kind of prices that car manufactures demand, and then they shove ads in your face on your own property. I would drive it back to the dealership & demand a refund.
You can probably have an ad-free system for a monthly subscription.
Wankers.
That's Bayerische Motoren Wankers AG to you.
It's crazy that few days ago I learned what BMW stands for and now I see it everywhere.
Remember when they tried to make you rent the heated seats you already have?
Maybe they will offer a commercial-free subscription service.
~~Maybe~~ they will offer a commercial-free subscription service.
Ftfy
If have to watch ads it’s not a luxury car, it’s a Kia in a suit.
I don't watch ads in my Hyundai. That makes it worse than Kia/Hyundai.
You have to watch the commercial before you can access the turn signals, right?
That would explain some things.
It's kinda weird how this slogan got so much cultural traction. Years later and it's still a meme. I guess because it's irrelevant to the issue - IIRC it was about piracy - and also because it's completely wrong. I would absolutely download a car if I could. So would pretty much everyone.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Wouldn't_Steal_a_Car?wprov=sfti1
Copyright concerns
It was reported that the music in the announcement was itself used without permission.However, one source disputes this, saying the reporting is the result of conflation regarding a different anti-piracy ad that used stolen music composed in 2006.
The "ransom note" typeface used in the campaign was FF Confidential, designed by the Dutch typographer Just van Rossum. Reports arose in 2025 that the copy of the font used to design the commercial may not have been properly licensed. In April 2025, Sky News reported via extraction from old campaign PDFs that the actual font used was Xband-Rough, a widely-distributed pirated version of FF Confidential. Van Rossum was aware of the font Xband-Rough, but was unaware that the advert has used the pirated font and described its use as "hilarious". According to a different investigation by journalists, the pirated font was only in a domestic campaign by the British Federation Against Copyright Theft, who had no involvement in the making of the original PSA. The Federation responded by saying that everyone involved in the creation of the announcement was no longer at the organization.
I hope they don't act surprised when cheap Chinese cars without all that crap devour their market share.
Cheap chinese car, yes, without all the crap, you wish. They are all capitalist and learn from each other. Remember the door handle shit? It's very much everywhere in chinese car to the point their government have to regulate the shit out of it. Chinese car maker want to export their car so bad because they can exploit without limit.
to the point their government have to regulate the shit out of it
Sounds like the system works. A problem was caused by capitalist firms doing stupid capitalist bullshit, and so the government stepped in to regulate them. What a country! Imagine if our governments would step in to regulate stupid firms doing stupid shit.
What a country!
Yeah if we pretend all the other issue with CCP didn't exists, it's a functional government.
It's funny how much of a joke the German car brands have become.
VW shoving touch controls down our throats, BMW selling their cars after they've been already sold, Audi and Mercedes sticking fake exhausts on their $70k cars, and all of them just desperately catering to the Chinese market while simultaneously not getting EVs...
Not to mention that in the wake of VW being caught red-handed with fraudulent software to evade emission regulations, BMW had to quickly get their (very similar) hack out there. Which, of course, was done so incredibly poorly that nowadays, several types of modern BMWs are liable to just explode into a fireball. Seemingly out of nowhere.
At least when they do explode they don't then also trap the occupants like Teslas do but still, plenty of stories of bmws in Europe just bursting into flames.
There's something about watching a luxury import brand fast-track enshitification faster than everyone else, including economy options.
Yeah this is one thing enshittification apologists never seem to understand, they'll claim 'well if you don't like ads just pay for the non-ad version, I want cheaper prices' but the reality is no matter how much you pay there's a mandatory side dish of enshittification.
All those electric car owners missing out on the gas station pump ads can finally feel included.
Wow, maybe bring it back to the dealership and tell them the car is broken, and insist on them fixing it or ask for a full refund.
i'm sure when you buy a new car you somewhere sign to this t&c's... which is why i'm not buying a new car (well, one of the reasons anyway ;))
I've had Yanks tell me that my BYD is evil because I don't really own it, that I have to pay a subscription, that it has ads
None of which is true
You know who's pulling that sort of shit?
Other manufacturers.
NOT BYD
Same here. My car always works, I don't need an account for it, all the features supported by the hardware are available for my use whenever I want. Here's the kicker, WITHOUT an internet connection. We have 2 BYDs, a 2023 HAN and a 2023 TANG.
Maybe now people will stop thinking they’re a premium brand.
Well, they're BMW drivers, so I don't feel too bad for them.
Disturbing trend, though.
Imagine this: when you start your car, you're forced to watch a 30 second commercial. Your car already has eye tracking, which actually is a good safety feature, but we'll be using this to make sure you're watching the entire time.
If you stop watching, it will change to a 1 minute long commercial instead. If you still don't watch the entire time, we might just start an even longer commercial.
Or better yet: your inattention is enough reason for us to turn off your car. Lawmakers can't ban this now, because it's a secondary safety feature: you don't have enough attention to mindlessly watch a 30 second commercial, so you're obviously not alert enough to operate a motor vehicle. Think of the kids.
Damn, I need to be like Sony and get a patent on this, just to stop anyone else from doing it.
Best advertisement for chinese cars. Not that they needed one...
Boss: "Why are you late today?"
Employee: "My BMW was showing ads every 10 minutes. It was difficult to drive."
Boss: "Fair enough.".
...
Boss: "Fair enough.".
Seems optimistic to me! I would expect "it is your responsibility to be here on time and ready to work. Leave earlier if you must."
But they said if we pay, we are not the product...
Was the BMW free? It must have been.
Well, what they actually say is if you don't pay you're the product. They never said anything about what happens if you pay
Fuck capitalism and all of the sneaky and invasive ways they try to sell you shit. Advertising is now like a cancer that interferes with simply living a life.
Has anyone actually seen these ads in the BMW, as described?
This article seems fishy to me. Especially this part:
The ad has been available in more than 70 markets since July 27, 2026, scheduled to run through August 10, 2026, on any suitably equipped BMW running Operating System 7, 8, 8.5, 9, or OS X built after July 2020.
“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?
Oh great. Most BMW drivers are already distracted and incompetent enough. This bullshit will just make them an even bigger hazard.
BMW drivers deserve this as punishment for all the missed turn signals
Maybe a dumb question but can these cars be reprogrammed with some other software or whatever? Or could the car be manipulated to not show an ad or unlock your seat warmers or something?
No. The software is deeply embedded and locked down tight. There is no reliable means of interfacing with it beyond what is exposed in the touchscreen interface. Only BMW dealers using their proprietary software can do anything and even they are limited to what is exposed to them. This is the same with all modern cars. Sorry.
It's even more infuriating when you get to Volkswagen and the same tools are locked down for certain cars based on the branding alone.
A Volkswagen dealer cannot program a Skoda or Audi or Porsche - even though all of them have the same hardware and software.
LMAO. LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. AAAAH FUCKCARS is gonna have a fun time with this one gang. Aaah shit man.
