2024 BMW 5 Series will receive digital streaming via TiVo

The new BMW 5 Series is already a rolling entertainment package. Not only does it have a massive new iDrive screen, but it’s also a four-wheeled gaming console, as you can play a variety of video games on that screen, using your smartphone as a controller. It’s about to become even more entertainment-oriented, though, as BMW now offers TiVo digital streaming through its new partnership with Xperi.

BMW’s partnership with XPeri brings the Powered by TiVo streaming service to the new 5 Series, which brings all kinds of streaming media to the interior. Everything from news to movies and TV shows is available to 5 Series passengers. It’s unclear if passengers will need a TiVo account or if buying the car will get you a TiVo subscription, but either way, the availability is there.

“In-car entertainment is becoming increasingly important to our customers,” said Ingo Lasslop, vice president of product management for digital products and services at BMW Group. “This partnership with Xperi enables us to provide our customers with a world-class entertainment offering and further transform their time spent in the vehicle into an engaging and enjoyable experience.”

As with the 5 Series game mode, expect TiVo streaming to make its way to other new BMWs, such as the new 7 Series. It’s actually surprising that BMW would launch this on the 5 Series rather than the 7 Series and i7. The last two cars have a Theater Screen option, which drops a 31-inch 8k widescreen display from the sky for rear-seat viewing pleasure. While the 5 Series iDrive screen is nice and big enough to watch movies on, it’s nowhere near as nice as the theater screen. Plus, how often are front seat passengers actually going to use this? So expect the 7 Series to get all of these content streaming services as well.

The main idea behind these streaming and gaming services for the 5 series is to offer some time-killing activities while charging the i5. The BMW i5 has a charging speed of 205kW, which can charge the car from 10-80 per cent in just 30 minutes, so it’s not like people have to sit for hours at a time. However, the i5 needs a compatible charging station for such speeds and they aren’t always available. So if you need to charge your i5 for longer, you can kill time by streaming a show or movie or playing a video game.