As announced here:
What are peoples views and thoughts? A well needed addon for the masses of users, or another distraction from stabalising the platform?
I was wondering what they had planned for the âbmwgroupâ folder that showed up on my phone in December:
Itâs an interesting time in the automotive tech world to be sure. Toyota just announced that they will be adopting the SmartDeviceLink open-source smartphone app interface (which underpins Ford SYNC AppLink).
I think itâs something theyâve been working on for a long time with a team that wouldnât be working on network stability anywaysâŠ
Believe it or not, we have dedicated teams to work on projects like this. We donât pull engineers off of Platform Stability to work with an automobile partner. When you see a new device integration itâs usually the effort of a lot of work from a small group of people who are dedicated to projects like those.
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Hats off to them, im sure they have done a great job, im not knocking any individual who made this integration, its there job to do so and hey was told too and im sure they came through ontop . . .
The issue is management . . .
Allocating any amount of team members to do ânew integrationsâ when the platform is in such an embarrassingly poor and u stable state isnt acceptable, infact its a joke !!!
Its similiar to the monitoring for $19.99 a month announced in december, it was possibly the aingle worst decision ever in terms of timing, how insulting is it to your current users who cant even do day to day basic functions to see you trying to get more money in from subscription services to montior a system that is more tempremental than my girlfriend . . .
The fact of the matter is, the majority of your longterm community members are pissed off with SmartThings and there blatent lack of interest in the system but obsession with trying to build profits . . .
Its pretty much as simple as . . . STOP RELEASING NEW FEATURES BEFORE FIXING YOUR ENORMOUS ROSTA OF CURRENT ONES !!! It doesnt cause users to be excited, it causes even more stress on your staff as it pisses off all your current users.
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Just what I need.
Try to start car "Sorry there was an unexpected error"
Driving down the road and turn on the radio âSorry there was an unexpected errorâ
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Thatâs not how an engineering business works. There are dedicated groups and teams for all different tasks. Just because you want to prioritize one task doesnât mean you shut down all other groups.
As of right now, this platform will not hold your hand and do everything you want perfectly, it is a system which requires a lot of understanding of the risks you take when using it. If you push your home to the point where it just wonât work without the hub then youâve brought it upon yourself. Discouraging the SmartThings developers for completing integrations and projects in an order that you donât like isnât being helpful in the least.
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Not to mention in most cases the platform developers have a different skill set than the addon/module developers. Sometimes a different language or more advanced functionality. The best thing to do is to keep the core platform team small and focused in hopes that they donât have 40 engineers checking in code and stepping all over everyone. With that said I have no idea if the underlining code is a true multi tiered application in the code to allow for this level of separation.
Very cool! Now someone buy me a 2013 or newer Beamer.
As much as I hate the system instability, there are many problems that throwing more people at wonât fix. Thereâs also people at companies that canât effectively help solve problems due to their skill sets. For example, if the ST issues are due to server and/or network issues on their end, development engineers arenât going to be able to help. So should ST lay them off in the mean time? Lord no!
I have trouble imagining a high end late model BMW owner sitting around repairing their Z-wave network, programming custom SmartApps in Groovy, and and bitching on these forums about how the ST web admins donât know what âfive ninesâ means.
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how do we add the i3 as a âThingâ as seen in the video??
thanks!!
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Connected drive ran out on my 3 series earlier this year. Getting my 420 in a couple of weeks and ecxited to see how well this actually works 
So I updated my SmartThings app to 2.0.7 and was surprised to find this doesnât work with the BMW Remote app (wifi/LTE) you need the BMW Connected app which requires the phone to be plugged into the car via a wired USB connection (how quaint). The car appeared to install the apps from the phone into the Connected Drive menu system and it looked like it was somewhat working. You just get the SmartThings Smart Home Monitor and Routines but no direct access to Things. And you get a menu called âGarageâ with nothing in it. Not sure what that is supposed to do, I guess itâs something to do with BMW?
But the connection was up and down more than a *************. Each time it reconnects it appears to reload the apps from the phone into the car (takes time). Sometimes it doesnât connect. Sometimes it just crashes. Sometimes it works too! But itâs not something I could rely upon at this stage. Letâs hope it improves with future software releases. At this stage it appears more proof of concept than a useful tool.
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I tried it last night and I couldnât find a way to add the BMW as a Thing in SmartThings. Although I didnât try it when the phone was physically connected to the car via USB. I must try that (see other post).
It doesnât need to be a high-end BMW, any recent model BMW with Nav will work, they all have Connected Drive. Tested it with the wifeâs 2015 320i last night. And I have a 2016 328i arriving later this month. We have a mixed SmartThings/Z-Wave, MyQ and Insteon home (still working on integrating that with @pstuartâs & @tslagle13âs Groovy Insteon code). Such people clearly do exist!
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Itâs Bimmer. 
Iâve got the car (2015 320iX) - I just need the iOS compatibility.
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I have a 2010 BMW 328, so I missed the boat by a few years. That being said, watching the video, I am not sure how much I would use it. Everything shown is all automated already by me utilizing modes, presence sensors, etc. Itâs also much easier to use a widget on my phone in my holster in my car, then going through the iDrive menu to perform actions. The one thing I would like though is the "Thingsâ functionality where I can control certain aspects of my car from Smartthings such as starting it, locking it, etc. That would be cool.
If your community leaves Smartthings because it is really only for hobbyists and developers new integrations are irrelevant. Your marketing suggests that this is for the everyday user. Your comments seem to contradict this.
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Fully agree. I did not see much in the video that I canât already do. When I am driving home I donât want to have to find the interface in my car to turn on the lights. They already come on with the presence sensor. When it works that is. So far it is a 50/50 thing.
When posting this I got the message âsorry a message has occurredâ - Love it!
The best part of automation, is AUTOMATION. I have my smarthome fully automated, from locks, thermostats, blinds, lights, etc happening automatically. I very rarely actually control âthingsâ from my smartphone unless I am troubleshooting something or itâs an out of norm action I am taking which happens occasionally. I find a lot of the automation being advertised as far as integrations are very gimmicky such as this BMW one. I would love to have it, but I would rather have CarPlay in my car which will help with emails, sms and navigation safely when I drive. When I buy my next car which I plan on doing in 2-3 years from now, one of the key features will be the operating system, not the home automation features.
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