Mattel, AirConsole, and BMW Group announced today that Mattel’s classic card game UNO will be revealed next week for in-car gaming in Cologne, Germany at Gamescom 2024, one of the world’s largest events for video games. Visitors to the AirConsole booth will be the first to experience UNO Car Party! in the new BMW X3, which is a tailored version of the card game for in-car gaming.

“We continue to increase the value of the overall digital experience for our customers,” said Stephan Durach, Senior Vice President of the BMW Group Development Connected Company and Technical Operations. “Our partners AirConsole and Mattel are helping make in-car gaming into a new social experience.”

Passengers can use AirConsole’s game controller system to connect to the game using their personal devices. Up to four players can play, and vehicles must be in Park to enable gameplay.

“UNO beautifully illustrates the strengths of AirConsole with a game accessible to everyone, a bespoke integration to the car hardware, and our phone-controlled gaming experience,” said Anthony Cliquot, CEO of AirConsole. “Each player can secretly see their own cards on their phone while playing on the infotainment system of the car. This is an experience that would be impossible to achieve using only touchscreen or Bluetooth controls on the infotainment system.”

The game will roll out via the AirConsole platform to over 500,000 BMW and Mini vehicles over the air on August 21st. AirConsole is available in current models with Operating System 9 in combination with BMW Digital Premium and Mini Connected packages and with BMW Operating System 8.5 in combination with BMW ConnectedDrive Professional.

“UNO is perfect for in-car gaming because it’s highly engaging and brings people together,” said Erika Winterholler, Head of Business Development, Digital Gaming at Mattel. “UNO’s social nature turns every journey into a fun experience.”

Since 2022, the partnership between the BMW Group and AirConsole has been bringing gameplay to vehicles through the AirConsole platform. The selection of games has grown since its introduction and is especially useful for electric vehicle owners with charging time on their hands. For instance, “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” launched as an in-car world premiere in collaboration between Sony Pictures Television, BMW Group, and AirConsole at last year’s Gamescom, demonstrated on the new all-electric BMW i5.

AirConsole is a brand of N-Dream AG, a Zurich-based startup founded by ex-Googler, serial entrepreneur, and company Chairman Andrin von Rechenberg. With many games across different genres, including big titles from popular platforms, AirConsole has over 16 million players and by 2026 plans to be on over 1 billion TVs. AirConsole is also available on PC/Mac through its web-based portal. The company is aiming to revolutionize the gaming industry with its mission to bring the $152 billion mobile gaming industry to every living room TV and in-car entertainment systems by using cloud OTA (over-the-air) technology.

Helping to bolster AirConsole’s prospects in in-car gaming was a strategic investment from KPIT Technologies, a software integration partner to the automotive and mobility ecosystem. With extensive experience in software development, integration, and validation in cockpit, cloud, and connectivity domains, KPIT can help N-Dream scale the rollout of AirConsole to more models and brands. At CES 2024, KPIT presented its Cockpit of the Future with AirConsole.

AirConsole’s latest gaming software technology is able to run the games directly inside the vehicle and the service does not rely on streaming the games from the cloud, which would require more mobile bandwidth than is available in many cases.

“With autonomous driving, the way we commute will change forever,” said von Rechenberg. “Together with KPIT, we will spearhead in-car gaming, in a world where passengers will be able to spend much more time on entertainment.”

KPIT’s equity investment in N-Dream provides a lot of new momentum for AirConsole.

“Working with KPIT will take AirConsole to the next level,” said Cliquot, also CEO of N-Dream. “This investment will enable us to provide even more impressive games in the near future, increase our footprint in the automotive industry, and overall establish ourselves as the ideal gaming solution for car makers and passengers.”

Casual gaming is a fast-growing use case in a modern cabin, according to Pushpahas Joshi, EVP and member of the Executive Board at KPIT Technologies.

“AirConsole is one of the industry’s early movers in the In-vehicle game aggregation space,” he said. “KPIT is excited to strategically complement its software development and integration capabilities with  AirConsole to realize new experiences for the Cockpit of the Future. Together, we will help OEM clients create monetizable Digital Services for existing vehicles and new launches.”