Filed under: GPS, Transportation, Wireless

For more than a year lucky BMW-owning Germans have been hitting Google Maps, and more recently the rest of the Internets, at blazing (cough) EDGE speeds from their sport-seats. Now, Bimmer-owning Americans are getting a piece of the action with a little help from AT&T’s GSM-friendly network. However, while there’s no mention in the release, BMW Blog thinks US cars will be limited to GPRS, not EDGE. All 2009 American BMW models, except for the lowly X3 mini-’Ute (which BMW doesn’t even bother to manufacture itself), will get Google Maps integration, enabling the driver or passenger to search for businesses from the dash. Directions can be piped to the car’s nav system and calls placed via in-car Bluetooth. At $199 per-year it’s not exactly a steal, but that does include standard BMW Assist functionality like locating your car if it’s stolen or dispatching an ambulance if you’re in a horrible accident. Yeah, we only care about the searching too.

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