MINI’s Mission Control in Action (Video)
Few new features have garnered more question than MINI’s Mission control that will be available on the limited edition Camden. Today we finally have video of the option in action. However remember, if you want navigation on the Camden, you’ll lose the Mission Control feature.
(Courtesy of miniunted.com and bigbloggtv)
<p>I don’t think I’d just be turning this off, I’d be looking for the circuitry to rip it out so that it couldn’t turn itself back on! This is more annoying than the “talking dashboard” on the first MG Maestros (showing my age a bit there…). I wonder who thought this was a good idea?</p>
<p>Ian, actually is kind of funny ;)</p>
<p>I second that!</p>
<p>The only way it could be more annoying is if they had a finger coming out from the dash that was constinatly poking you. Maybe we will see that as a future update.</p>
<p>Nope. Still think it’s cool; although I’d rather have one voice instead of three, or the ability to choose from the three (a’ la GPS).</p>
<p>Please tell me this is all just a reallly baad joke.</p>
<p>I think that just turned me off of the Camden. I’ll take a regular 2010 Cooper S, thanks!</p>
<p>I would gladly trade this stupid item for a temp gauge!</p>
<p>I think this could be incredibly fun (at least every once in a while). But the highlight of the video is the car bitching at them for not being “environmentally conscious”? Seriously? I’d be stopping the car immediately and telling her to get the heck out.</p>
<p>Gabe, was that a prototype car? Notice no MINI logo in the steering wheel and the climate controls were different.</p>
<p>talking car…novelty at first to show the neighbors and then off it goes. Mine already talks. Exhaust note/supercharger whine = you are accelerating. Squealing tires = you are cornering quickly. ;P</p>
<p>Houston, we have a problem.</p>
<p>How are the climate controls different? They’re just the standard non-digital version so far as I can tell…</p>
<p>This is really cool. I think it’s a lot of fun, and totally the coolest way to show off your MINI’s awesomeness with passengers in the car. “Buckle up everybody, we have ignition!” Too cool.</p>
<p>…so long as you can shut it off when you don’t want it anymore.</p>
<p>Get it? Houston…? Mission Control…?</p>
<p>How irritating! Not for me thank you.</p>
<p>I guess Navigation will be a popular option for the Camden.</p>
<p>If I heard correctly, this was developed in Palo Alto. Is that Palo Alto California and if so what’s the address. I work in that city and I’m curious, who knows, maybe I’ll catch sight of some of the new models.</p>
<p>What is it with MINI and their compulsion to control me and my car? It’s impossible to get DIY info to fix the car myself. Now they want to tell me how and when to put the windows up and down. Memo to MINI: it is my car, not yours.</p>
<p>Wow, one of the worst ideas I’ve seen from any car maker.</p>
<p>Wow, that is umm….I appreciate their effort, but there must be better things to spend their time & money on. Do they not think that any normal person would tire of this after the first few days?</p>
<p>I actually think this has potential. I agree it could get a little annoying at times as shown. Hopefully they are leaving some of the more technical stuff off teh video. Perhaps if they could have a chattiness setting from 0 to 5. Like 0 is off 1 is just the urgent or emergency announcements and 5 is full out talking all the time lke we saw and there is a range of verbosity in between.</p>
<p>I think the future is to have the entire system – nav, climate control, ecu, entertainment, bluetooth phone, everything working as one unified system to the driver.</p>
<p>“Makes the Mini more like a family member than a car.” Yeah, like many family members, it’s really annoying.</p>
<p>I’m going to hack it so it says things like:</p>
<p>You are such a stud driver …. Danny.</p>
<p>You took that curve like a Sophia Lauren’s husband on their wedding night… Danny.</p>
<p>You could drive fast like you are but then don’t you want to build up some anticipation for the people waiting for you? … Danny.</p>
<p>Please give me an OFF button – it’s funny for short DEMO but very annoying on daily basis.</p>
<p>Ineresting gadget, but not for the long run for sure.
The best part of the video is the last 10 seconds when the driver gets on it, and you hear the turbo chirp!!</p>
<p>Heh an electronic backseat driver. Great use of time and energy ;). I appreciate the attempt at something fresh but think Mini has created one of the worse features in automotive history on this one. Would be interesting for the first couple of minutes and then would live the remainder of its life turned off.</p>
<p>The only way I see this selling is when bundled with other options. It’s a feature akin to the openometer. It may be cool but nearly completely useless.</p>
<p>Could a Cooper Furby addition be next?</p>
<p>Brings back the memories of the 80’s, “Your door is Ajar, your door is Ajar”.</p>
<p>If I drive the Camden like Patrese drope the Type-R in that youtube video, wonder if the female voice will go bazerk, cursing in Italian like Riccardo’s wife:)</p>
<p>Anyways, I also have a feeling Jeremy Clarkson is going to loooove it!!!! Can’t wait to hear/read his thoughts.</p>
<p>Apparently there will be an off switch.</p>
<p>I think it is clever. Sounds like it’s been gestating for a while. I would think that it would get repetitive pretty quick, unless you could upload new stuff from time to time, and maybe install certain celebrity voices. Even then, it would mostly be used to entertain my passengers that have not heard it. The Camden is pretty quirky. I may have to go see it. I’d like to see what the paint treatment will be like on the other colors. Will those unusual lines show up on the Black version? My guess is yes.</p>
<p>They Just passed the law about driving and using handheld devices in Ontario…That was meant to cut distraction…This is a distraction.
Sorry MINI – MISSION CONTROL = FAIL
It hurts me to say that :(</p>
<p>I can’t believe that MINI would waste ANY development dollars on this. This is the all time, dumbest idea ever. The Germans don’t believe in cup holders as that is a driving distraction but they can develop an electronic nagging device.</p>
<p>How many oil pressure and water temperature gauges could have been developed and included as standard equipment for the money they wasted on this. If it was a true command system like Sync that actually responded to your voice commands it would have been useful.</p>
<p>Good Lord folks take a few chill pills! Y’all act like you M Schumacher or something. Buy it don’t buy you do have a choice.</p>
<p>M_power… That is one hilarious vid with Richard P and his wife.</p>
<p>Wow, totally lameeeeee ohooooooooooo. How about MINI spending some of that Dev money on Quality Control instead of this dog’s breakfast.</p>
<p>This is almost as anoying as when Gabe mentions BIMMERFILE on White Roof Radio!</p>
<p>Sorry traitor! :P</p>
<p>I hope it goes the way of the Mechanical LSD.</p>
<p>Yikes.</p>
<p>Who the hell came up with that idea?</p>
<p>Mission Control = FAIL.</p>
<p>Please, just give us a decent audio system and center dash design.</p>
<p>As one who drives with the radio off to “listen” to my MINI, I can’t imagine enjoying having someone nag me while driving. (The voice on our GPS was silenced long ago.)</p>
<p>I can see a day when you’ll have to pay extra to turn these in-car voices off.</p>
<p>Answering a question no one asked. Artificial Intelligence on wheels. Or in them? Do NOT want. Their tech guys must be bored out of their damn minds.</p>
<p>I think it’s pretty fun. Especially with the possibility of uploadable sound sets. Just like the toggle switch stickers.</p>
<p>@<a href="#comment-268602" rel="nofollow">rkw</a>:</p>
<p>Yes, this is a thinly veiled plot to get thousands of additional buyers to select the Nav option…</p>
<p>(Must confess though — the “tock, tock, tock” of the turn signal in this clip was almost as annoying. Almost.)</p>
<p>Mike C, I think it’s the BMW Technology Office in Palo Alto, CA. According to Google Maps, it’s just a few blocks off University Ave near the Middlefield Road intersection. I live in Menlo Park, and didn’t realize that BMW had a tech dev group here.</p>
<p>My take on this is: ugh. Seriously…what’s next? Driving theme music that changes and reacts to your driving style? Replace the windshield with a customizable LCD projection of the road ahead, so you can really feel like you’re in a video game? Bah. I understand they want to build on the character of the brand but this is just too in your face for me. I don’t like gimmicks.</p>
<p>I’m with Big Jim. They could have spend a lot less development euros on a temp gauge and a chrono-pack gauge set for the R56 rather than this and the silly openometer.</p>
<p>I’d be interested in this if it was programmable.</p>
<p>The Germans are obsessed with this kind of stuff. This is why their cars run into so many reliability problems because they overload them with useless electronic junk.</p>
<blockquote>My take on this is: ugh. Seriously…what’s next? Driving theme music that changes and reacts to your driving style? Replace the windshield with a customizable LCD projection of the road ahead, so you can really feel like you’re in a video game? Bah. I understand they want to build on the character of the brand but this is just too in your face for me.</blockquote>
<p>maybe that doesn’t apeal to your generation but what you just described would be an awesome option to me. Music that adapted to your driving style…that would be pretty sweet if you ask me
.
If mission control was paired with GPS and gave me co-pilot instructions like the WRC I would love it. As it stands I would get annoyed by repeat phrases over time.</p>
<p>Mission control and the Openometer need to relegated to the trash bin. Why not focus on an “ultimate” driving experience rather than making your MINI akin to Thomas the Tank Engine.</p>
<p>Does one have to pay for this or are you going to be stuck with it? It reminds me of the Chrysler LeBaron my mother had in the mid-80’s that “talked” to you. I almost shot that car-it drove me nuts! A beyond-dumb idea…</p>
<p>For announcing trivia, who would want it?</p>
<p>Yet, if it could be set to alert the driver to some emergent, extreme situation, it could save lives. Possibilities:</p>
<p>“Deer approaching from the right, one-hundred meters!”
“Fuel leak detected under-bonnet.”
“You are following too close. Please decelerate.”
“You seem to be falling asleep. Please pull over.”
“Cam chain tensioner failing. Phone roadside assistance now.”</p>
<p>Waste of energy and resources- this is obnoxious. I would have spent that R&D on something with substance. It makes the car feel even more gimmicky.</p>
<p>If they think this is so great they have something else coming. MINI is becoming more and more like a toy company, next they will offer your very own inflatable passenger seat John Cooper that will also talk to you when you pull the string….. Heel-toe, shift!</p>
<p>Put those engineers to work on voice recognition that is a bit more accurate or for more efficient electrics that would reduce weight and alternator power..</p>
<p>It might be fun for the first five minutes, but after that I’d be looking for a way to turn it off.</p>
<p>Thanks, but no thanks!</p>
<p>Wish that they had spent the money on developing a replacement center console and better fabric choices for the R56.</p>
<p>Talk about misplaced effort. If only they spent their time developing proper gauges for the R56–now that’s an idea I could get behind. Instead, MINI will follow the questionable lead of ’80s Nissans and Chryslers and add its own schizophrenic twist.</p>
<p>Is it me, or is MINI rapidly losing its way? In my opinion, what started as a rebirth of form with function is rapidly becoming a brand that values style over substance…or quality.</p>
<p>@<a href="#comment-268861" rel="nofollow">Ross Buchanan</a>:</p>
<p>You nailed it! MINI is being controlled by marketeers and people that have a fetish with useless electronic gizmos. The wonderful startup company of the early 2000’s is no longer the focused enterprise of those early years.</p>
<p>How about design? quality? handling? Seems they are quickly running out of ideas and turning to gimmickry as a form of distraction from a product that is losing ground to the competition.</p>
<p>MINI go back to basics! You are a car company, not Apple computer
!</p>
<p>@<a href="#comment-268852" rel="nofollow">Michael</a>:</p>
<p>LMAO!!!!!!!!!</p>
<p>I am having visions of the inflatable “John Copper” doll in the passenger seat. Anyone remember “Otto” the inflatable auto-pilot doll from the immortal movie “Airplane!”.</p>
<p>dr — Thanks for the interesting feedback. I was being sarcastic but now that you mention it, given how my ipod is constantly running when I drive, maybe it isn’t a bad idea. I was more making the remark because as I drive on the CA freeways, I see more and more drivers acting like the traffic is a video game with the only aim to be to sort of climb through the traffic, pass as many cars ahead of you as you can while you’re on the road. Add some video game theme music and it pretty much seals the deal. I think it’s because more and more drivers play driving video games (including myself) and I wonder if those gaming habits transfer to the real road.</p>
<p>C4 – BMW/MINI was a startup company in the early part of this decade? Mini just turned 50, dude. Classic Minis may have left the US long ago, but they were still in production virtually up until the changeover to the MINI production line.</p>
<p>@<a href="#comment-268939" rel="nofollow">Aaron</a>:</p>
<p>No need to remind me about Mini history as I can give you a full history lesson myself there. Re-read my post Aaron…. MINI was indeed a “startup” company in the United States. When was the last time Mini has sold a car here? 1968. That’s right. Minis were unknown to most Americans until the new car came here in early 2002. BMW had owned Rover and the Mini brand since 1995, so technically classics built between 1995-2000 at the Longbridge plant while still marketed as Rovers where manufactured under the years of BMW ownership.</p>
<p>But “MINI” as an independent brand, part of the BMW Group, was a new enterprise that launch in the summer of 2001.</p>
<p>So don’t try to muddle the waters here. The BMC/Rover Mini built from August 26, 1959 until October 2, 2000 is a totally different animal from the BMW MINI. Yes the Mini is 50 years old but there is a huge divide between the 20th century car and the 21st century version. The only things that link both are the name and the spirit.</p>
<p>one of the dumbest features ive seen for a car. what a waste of development. That guy’s job is definately not one that is needed lol.</p>
<p>Mission Control, like the automatic voice alerts that protect jet fighter pilots, could save lives and property.</p>
<p>However, this implementation demo makes a joke out of a worthwhile idea.</p>
<p>Connected to smart sensors with real purpose, Mission Control should be standard equipment.</p>
<p>I just simply can’t believe they spent time working on this.</p>
<p>This could be fun with an injection of humor:</p>
<p>“Who dressed you, Bozo the Clown?!?”
“Don’t be pickin’ your nose and puttin’ your hands on this steering wheel!”
“Pizza! Do I smell pizza?”
“I KNOW you not gonna leave that empty wrapper on the floor, right!?”</p>
<p>Endless possibilities.</p>
<p>NOW available as a RETROFIT</p>
<p><a href="http://www.totalmini.com/forum/attachments/2006-current-2nd-generation/5917d1254902398-mission-control-retrofit-mission-control-retrofit.pdf" rel="nofollow ugc">http://www.totalmini.com/forum/attachments/2006-current-2nd-generation/5917d1254902398-mission-control-retrofit-mission-control-retrofit.pdf</a></p>