[SvenGG]

I just set up a gesture to manually open and start the drive recorder at the start of a drive and noticed that it cancels the recording as soon as I switch back to Apple CarPlay. Why?!? Surely it's not technically necessary to keep the Drive Recorder menu open for it to function?

It seems terrible to not be able to record while using other features. Do you all think this could be a candidate for BMW to update / improve?
Is there a way to give them feedback? I love the car but I'm getting frustrated with some of the software choices that just don't make sense.

 

[GottKaiser]

I am not understanding why you need a gesture for that. The drive recorder itself is running constantly after the car started up (because how else it would be possible to save the 20 seconds before you hit the record button). Anyway you can only save the 20 seconds before and after, so a total of 40 seconds per video if I recall correctly.
What is the use case for your method?

 

[bqv]

and this is why i installed a dashcam. Dashcam's have saved me 2x over accidents "who's at fault". Very cheap insurance. Picked one up on amazon and took me an hour or less to hard wire it.

 

[GottKaiser]

The BMW Drive recorder does that as well with the onboard cameras. It can be triggered automatically in case of an (detected) accident, as well as manually via the menu or holding the "panorama cam" button for a couple of seconds. So I am not really getting the issue here.

 

[SvenGG]

The issue is that I live in Los Angeles and there is lots of insane traffic. I was recently in a fender bender and the drive recorder did not turn on even though it was configured to turn on automatically (verified by the genius at the dealership).
The menu is buried, so if you want to turn it on manually a lot, the gesture is super convenient.

So my use-case is that I have a USB drive plugged in and I just want to manually record to it for every drive to guarantee coverage. But I would like to use the full infotainment system (including support for notifications and climate, which interrupt the manual drive recorder). I just don't want to add an ugly extra thing with wires or anything else to my expensive car. It has cameras, it has USB storage, I don't see why it shouldn't be able to record.

So again, the problem is that the manual recording stops if any other app does anything - notifications, climate, changing a song, etc. It should be able to run in the background. You're free to disagree, but that's not helpful, so I'm not sure why you're here saying you don't get the issue.

 

[GottKaiser]

Okay I get that your fender bender might not have been a big enough impact for the car to register it - I am not sure how much of an impact it has to be to be honest - I am glad I did not have to find out yet.

So what I understand you want to do is, to manually get the full stream continuously on your USB stick (like a dashcam which just continues recording and saving and will overwrite the first recording after the space runs out), is that correct? I think that is not possible unfortunately, as the BMW drive recorder is limited to I think max. 10 videos of max. 40 seconds length. Maybe the limit of 10 does not apply for external drives, but definitely it will not save your complete cruise, but rather just said video clips on demand.

What however is possible, that in case of another not severe accident where the system fails to save the recording automatically, you can press and hold the camera/park assist button next to your iDrive controller for a couple of seconds. That should also trigger the manual recording without having to search through the menus which I understand is not convenient, especially if you just had an accident. Of course that will also only save the 20 seconds before the crash and after, but still that should be enough usually to capture what happened.

 

[SvenGG]

When I was sold the car, they made it sound like it could record like a Tesla, just that it was done manually rather than automatically.
My original two questions remain unanswered:
Do you all think this could be a candidate for BMW to update / improve?
Is there a way to give them feedback?

I can't think of a reason why this couldn't change with a software update, so I want to find a way to let them know there is interest if possible.

 

[GottKaiser]

I thought that Teslas also only save video clips on demand (for example when pressing the horn), and maybe also in case of an detected accident?

Well in Germany you can provide feedback to the customer service, there is an email address for it I believe, but I have a strong feeling that nothing will come out of that like ever. BMW is also not known for releasing major after sale software updates with relevant new functions rather than gimmicks. They have started advertising OTA upgrades (with my G20 3 series for the ID7 software) but never really released anything relevant over it, if I remember correctly.

I am still waiting for the delivery of my iX, so I hope that at least they improved the quality of the video the drive recorder saves. In my 3 series, the quality is quite unsatisfying unfortunately, especially if you have selected to save the streams of all 4 cams. But still it might help in case of an accident.

 

[GottKaiser]

I also have to correct myself,... In the manual it says 30 seconds before and 30 seconds after starting the recording will be saved, so that is already some kind of improvement.

 

[J78]

In this video they mention that you can record to usb without a time limit. Not sure if it also gets interrupted when switching to other apps / CarPlay…

You can also record manually the last 30s and next 30s even if no accident. You have to press and hold the parking camera button.

View attachment 2355
there Is also an option to record to usb a continuous video until you press stop - beleive this needs an usb-c drive attached - see after 2 minute mark

a note that recordings also stores date/time, car speed and gps location in the file.

 

[jeffgtx]

Yes you can record your entire drive to a usb drive but the recorder app need to be open on the info screen. I don’t know why this limitation exists but the short answer is in order to accomplish recording the entire trip you micbhave the app open and you have tons a radicle the other infotainment features.

 

[thugtomas]

I just set up a gesture to manually open and start the drive recorder at the start of a drive and noticed that it cancels the recording

 

[Paladin1]

When I was sold the car, they made it sound like it could record like a Tesla, just that it was done manually rather than automatically.
My original two questions remain unanswered:
Do you all think this could be a candidate for BMW to update / improve?
Is there a way to give them feedback?

I can't think of a reason why this couldn't change with a software update, so I want to find a way to let them know there is interest if possible.

1) Yes, absolutely.
2) Failing all else (and there is a primary Genius line - 1-844-443-6487), your local Genius should be able to elevate. I'm currently working with both mine and BMW on the MyBMW app charging history glitch for global users, hopefully soon to be resolved (the two most recent patches don't seem to have fixed it, third coming).

There a number of already-discovered software gremlins just popping up with more users (weather app continually failing to connect - that one is left over from iD7, charging history not recorded, remote cameras not recording - that one may be solved, random HUD/instrument cluster display resets - not common), and I'm sure multiple others as we wring out these cars - hence the two fairly quick successive OS updates. The more feedback provided, the faster we will see them resolved.

 

[Rick in So California USA]

I am not understanding why you need a gesture for that. The drive recorder itself is running constantly after the car started up (because how else it would be possible to save the 20 seconds before you hit the record button). Anyway you can only save the 20 seconds before and after, so a total of 40 seconds per video if I recall correctly.
What is the use case for your method?

They increased the before and after time to 30 seconds each.

 

[Rick in So California USA]

The issue is that I live in Los Angeles and there is lots of insane traffic. I was recently in a fender bender and the drive recorder did not turn on even though it was configured to turn on automatically (verified by the genius at the dealership).
The menu is buried, so if you want to turn it on manually a lot, the gesture is super convenient.

So my use-case is that I have a USB drive plugged in and I just want to manually record to it for every drive to guarantee coverage. But I would like to use the full infotainment system (including support for notifications and climate, which interrupt the manual drive recorder). I just don't want to add an ugly extra thing with wires or anything else to my expensive car. It has cameras, it has USB storage, I don't see why it shouldn't be able to record.

So again, the problem is that the manual recording stops if any other app does anything - notifications, climate, changing a song, etc. It should be able to run in the background. You're free to disagree, but that's not helpful, so I'm not sure why you're here saying you don't get the issue.

Does anyone know the maximum size using an USB-C flash drive for the Drive Recorder? I see I can get 512GB, would That these work I the iX? Also, is there a certain USC-C connector to put this UCB-C for tube Drive Recorder in? I know there a 2 in the front and 4 on the back of the seats, is there another secret USB-C somewhere in the car just for the Drive Recorder?

Can you activate the Drive Recorder manually and just keep it recording?

 

[Rick in So California USA]

1) Yes, absolutely.
2) Failing all else (and there is a primary Genius line - 1-844-443-6487), your local Genius should be able to elevate. I'm currently working with both mine and BMW on the MyBMW app charging history glitch for global users, hopefully soon to be resolved (the two most recent patches don't seem to have fixed it, third coming).

There a number of already-discovered software gremlins just popping up with more users (weather app continually failing to connect - that one is left over from iD7, charging history not recorded, remote cameras not recording - that one may be solved, random HUD/instrument cluster display resets - not common), and I'm sure multiple others as we wring out these cars - hence the two fairly quick successive OS updates. The more feedback provided, the faster we will see them resolved.

1) Without a doubt, YES. I would want the increments to increase from 30-40-50-60, possibly 2-3 minutes automatic recording. I can't imagine with all the computing power the iX has, they don't have a little more drive space for longer recordings.
2) I agree that a Genius would have access to BMW for suggestions for improvements from owners.
. I would also believe BMW would have a Customer Service phone number or email to address the same suggestions for improvements from owners.