Automotive company BMW has invested $5 million in a mobile phone application company called MyCityWay. MyCityWay is helps people find points of interest for over 40 cities in the U.S. This includes parks and restaurants.

At the Detroit Auto Show, a $90,000 BMW 750i xDrive was stolen. Fortunately it was found today, but there were wires cut which disabled the tracking system on the car. The car was brought into town for BMW executives to ride around in and it was stolen outside of the Westin Book Cadillac hotel in downtown. The car was being loaded on to a car carrier, but the driver of the truck and others were distracted. The car was found in an apartment complex on Telegraph Road in western Detroit. The police is investigating the car to see if they can find any evidence about who the carjackers are.

AT&T and car company BMW have signed an agreement called BMW Assist Services. AT&T will be providing the Bluetooth hands-free calling, speech recognition, GPS, emergency assistance, traffic and weather updates, news, etc. for BMW Assist services. BMW Assist is free for 4 years on BMW models 2007 and higher.

NVIDIA has recently made a deal with Tesla and BMW to power the navigation, infotainment, and instrument-cluster systems. In the Tesla Model S, the Tegra-based system has a 17-inch touchscreen center console with 3D graphics and live-traffic updates. The Model S also has a smaller 12.3-inch display for the instrument cluster. The BMW will be using the Tegra chip for a 1280×600 display in the upcoming 7-Series, 5-Series, 3-Series, Mini Cooper, and X-Series range. Below is the full press release:

Research In Motion Limited (NASDAQ:RIMM) is working with BMW and the Army to develop a new tablet computer. RIM is working with BMW on the audio system and is using technology from the Army Crusher tank. RIM wants to really make their tablet computer stand out.

Fiat’s $550 Million Plant In Mexico City

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Fiat plans to invest $550 million in a Chrysler plant outside of Mexico City to assemble Fiat 500 vehicles. The $550 million investment will be financed mostly by loans from Mexican development plants. [Edmunds]

Nissan Going To Have A Booth At Chicago Auto Show

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Even though Nissan skipped having a booth at the Detroit Auto Show, they will be attending the auto show in Chicago. Nissan will have about 1,000 on-site at the Chicago Auto Show which is about 300 more than what they showcased in Detroit. [EGMCarTech]

Navigon iPhone App Going Social

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Navigon has announced that they will be updating their iPhone GPS application to support social features. There will be in-app connections to Twitter and Facebook. There will also be Panorama View 3D views that is being powered by NASA data. [CNET]

Street View Snowmobile

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Google Street View is now being used on the snowy hills of Vancouver. Google was able to take pictures using a Google Street View snowmobile vehicle. Unfortunately, they captured a picture of someone sticking up their middle finger. The photo was taken at Whistler to prepare for the Winter Olympics. [Jalopnik]

BMW Sales Up 16.6%

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BMW has announced that they have seen a 16.6% increase in sales for the month of January. They sold about 82,120 vehicles across their BMW, MINI, and Rolls-Royce brand of cars. [BMWBlog]

Honda Recalls 378K Cars Over Airbags

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Honda is recalling 378,000 additional vehicles because of air bag issues. The force in which the air bag deploys might be too forceful and affects certain Honda cars. Last year Honda had to recall 440,000 vehicles for the same reason. Cars affected include 2001-2002 Accords, Civics, Odysseys and CR-Vs. And 2002 Acura TLs may also be affected. [NYT]

There’s a demographic of VIP people out there that feel that they are constanly being threatened. Of course these people should have the right to drive around in an automobile without feeling vulnerable to a bomb attack. This is where the BMW 7 Series High Security automobile comes in.

The BMW 7 Series High Security has armor plating around the doors, the roof, the pillars, the undercarriage, the separation wall between the passenger and luggage compartments, and the front footwell.

The windows are made out of multiplayered with a unique level of resistance. The glass is over 2″ thick and is covered with polycarbonate layers on the inside. This prevents shattered glass particles from hitting the passengers.

There is an intercom system built into the car that has concealed microphones and speakers to record conversations taking place. There is also an assault alarm and a fire extinguishing system. The car also has irritant gas sensors that will automatically close the windows, shut down air valves, and activate the central locking system. Then an internal fresh air supply system will kick in.

No word on whether the door sensor hazards being developed will make it to the Series 7 High Security.

[via Wired]

If you’re one of those people that has been in an incident where you opened a car door and accidentally saw it take out a biker or even see it being taken out by another car, BMW and the Technical University of Munich is developing a solution for you. BMW and the Technical University of Munich are developing car doors that will resist from being opened when sensing a potential hazard.

Michael Graf is leading the BMW project. The sensors will be ultrasonic and notifies a bar running through the car’s doors if there is a hazard. The bar locks up and gives an alert notification to the driver. The prototype has been seen as positive and could be rolled out into several car models within the next year. BMW itself is still undecided whether the system will be rolled out into all of their future cars.

Personally I think the problem could be averted altogether by rolling out butterfly doors into every car. It doesn’t matter if you buy a Lamborghini or an Escalade, butterfly doors look cool.

[via CNET]