Starting this month, people who buy a BMW in Austria, France, Germany, Italy, or the UK should find the navigation interface significantly improved thanks to Google.  A renewal of a deal involving BMW’s Connected Drive service means a couple new features have become available.

In terms of letting a driver keep his (or her) attention focused on the road, search suggestions are far and away the most significant new feature.  Forget the idea of working out how to spell all of "Bar Stuzzichini" on a small screen while traveling at 70 MPH.

BMWs have long been able to outhandle and overpower most other cars on any given road.  Now, the owners of some 2009 BMWs will lose their last excuse for being late, as the automaker has teamed up with Google Maps to create BMW Search.

Gosh bless the automotive trickledown; it’s already brought treats like telescoping steering wheels to entry-level vehicles, and now computer-to-car driving directions appear to be on the way.

Google-fans rejoice, you now have a Google-approved car to consider for your next purchase.

Europeans (and to some extent, the Japanese) get all the coolest car stuff.  The latest example of this involves a deal between BMW and Google; German BMW owners will benefit from a new in-car Google Local Search service, and a sort of precursor feature (previously available just in Germany) has now spread throughout Europe.

BMW’s tagline used to be “Ultimate Driving Machine.” Then, in 2006, the auto manufacturer switched to “A Company of Ideas.” While that doesn’t have the same ring, it may at least allow a bit more room to explain BMW’s new arrangement with Google. In effect, German bimmer owners will be able to link their cars’ navigation systems to Google Maps.

Notice to search marketers: Your brand will not save you from the consequences of screwing with search engines.

The German car manufacturer BMW has ordered adult search engine AskJolene.com to immediately remove a number of results from its index and to blacklist the providers of the documents but AskJolene says it will not yield to the claim.