BMW Hopes To Get The Connected Car Up To Speed With ‘Webinos’

The car has been called “the fourth screen” for internet-connected content. But even for high-performance brands like BMW, adapting the car to keep up with the fast pace of mobile computing has been a slow and complicated process. The luxury automaker plans to bring automotive technology up to speed and in sync with smartphones, computers and tablets by leveraging an EU-funded project called “webinos.”

While webinos may be a goofy name – although it’s certainly easier to say than “Secure Web Operating System Application Delivery Environment” – the ambitious goal of the Euro-centric project is to develop and standardize an open source web- and browser-based application platform that allows seamless communication across all internet-connected devices. Collaborators on webinos include over 20 automotive, IT and telecommunications companies as well as several research institutes. The project was launched in September 2010 and runs until August 2013, and BMW is the first to show an automotive prototype at the Communication World IT trade show in Munich this week.