BMW iOS App Lets You Put a Virtual i8 in Your Garage

The augmented reality app allows users to customize their own i-vehicle and interact with it virtually.

byDave Bartosiak|
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I’ll admit it, I have a bit of a car shopping problem. I frequent dealerships, I surf all the popular car sales websites, and every time I leave a dinner I grab the free car trader magazines. I can’t own them all, but I sure can imagine it. BMW just brought a new app to market made to give everyone the feeling of a virtual showroom in the comfort of their own home.

BMW is one of the first brands to use Apple’s ARKit with iOS 11 to create what it's calling an augmented reality app. Consumers worldwide can now digitally interact with BMW i-cars using the BMW i-Visualizer App. The app can be downloaded on any iPhone from the 6s or newer and also works on iPad Pro or this year’s iPad.

Customers that download the app can check out the BMW i3, i3s or i8 as a life-sized interactive visualization. Using the app they can change the vehicle's color, interior and wheels. They can even open the doors and climb into their digitally visualized model. Users can even walk around as different angles of the vehicle pop up on their screen. You can even duck down to get a closer look at things like the wheels. Who needs Pokemon Go when you can spend hours looking at virtual car interiors?

BMW i-Visualizer , BMW AG

Speaking on the new augmented reality app Andrea Castronovo, BMW Group vice president of customer centric sales strategy, MPM & process management, said, “Our products are highly emotional vehicles which customers need to experience. With this app, we’re able to bring the next best thing to an actual product into people’s pockets, they can just take out their iPhone and see what their dream car would look like on the driveway or how it would fit into their garage.”

In some major markets, customers will be able to transfer their visualizer creations directly to the online configurator so they can fine-tune the BMW i-vehicle of their choice. If you can picture it in your driveway, maybe it will compel a few people to pull the trigger.

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