Wilmington, DE -- (SBWIRE) -- 07/01/2011 -- Union Park BMW shows off ConnectedDrive, BMW’s innovative system that keeps drivers in touch with the outside world. The system offers many advanced infotainment, convenience, and safety features.

The infotainment aspect of ConnectedDrive gives drivers the unique opportunity to manage a mobile office in the car. When connected to a Bluetooth-enabled mobile device, the dashboard will read aloud emails, calendar entries, notes, contacts, and text messages through the text-to-speech function. Hands-free calling is also possible through steering-wheel controls. Thanks to advanced speech recognition technologies, people can be dialed hands free by name or number, and video card images are also stored, so the picture of the contact can be shown when they call or are called.

ConnectedDrive also offers many entertainment and information capabilities. HD Radio offers higher quality sound, Sirius XM Radio provides over 130 commercial-free stations, and Bluetooth Audio Streaming allows drivers to listen to music from their MP3 Player or Smartphone while controlling the library through the iDrive display. iPod and iPhone integration offers the same capabilities of Bluetooth Audio Streaming with an iPod or iPhone. On the information side, ConnectedDrive offers drivers the ability to connect with the BMW customer relations staff. Drivers can also receive news headlines and weather forecasts.

Another unique aspect of ConnectedDrive is the convenience features it provides. It can help recover stolen BMWs, remotely unlock the driver’s door in the instance that an owner gets locked out, allows personalized driver profiles with up to 160 settings, offers an up-to-date navigation system, rear view camera, park distance control, and a parking assistant, which uses ultrasonic sensors to search for available parallel parking spots while the driver focuses on the road.

Finally, ConnectedDrive offers many advanced safety technologies. Automatic collision notification sends accident and location information to a response specialist automatically after a crash. Other safety amenities include roadside assistance, blind spot detection, active cruise control, night vision, lane departure warning and emergency request, which sends vehicle location information at the push of a button.

BMW ConnectedDrive is available on all BMW models at Union Park BMW in Wilmington, Delaware.