Galaxy Gear app lets you control your BMW i3

At CES, Samsung announced a collaboration with BMW that lets owners of the BMW i3 electric car control some functions of their vehicle with the Galaxy Gear smartwatch.

With the new BMW i Remote app BMW 3 Galaxy Gear owners can view information about their car from their smartwatch, as long as the app is installed on their paired smartphone. The smartwatch app shows valuable information including remaining driving range and the status of windows and doors.

The app can even adjust the in-car temperature remotely and set a navigation destination before you even step into the car. It’s presumably a bit easier to use the full smartphone app to input a destination, but being able to do so from your watch sounds too futuristic to not use at least once. The temperature control would be particularly handy for the current cold weather in most of the U.S., or in the heat of summer.

While most people will never get to use the BMW app because the BMW i3 is just too expensive for them, this new app shows what’s possible for future cars and wearables. With Android coming to cars later this year, more communication between cars and smartphones and other devices only makes sense. This app is a great first step, but the future of connected cars is potentially much more exciting.

What sort of features do you want to see from an app for your car?