German auto giant BMW has signed an agreement with wireless carrier AT&T seeking delivery of safety and information services to future BMW models.

The automaker’s existing information service, called BMW Assist, provides drivers with emergency and concierge call-center services, traffic information and an online portal to access weather forecasts, fuel prices and news.

Neither company has revealed contractual and financial details of the relationship.

The deal with BMW will be handled by AT&T’s (News - Alert) emerging devices division, an initiative the wireless giant launched in late 2008 with an aim to introduce wireless capabilities to a host of new consumer electronics, tracking and healthcare devices, and other applications beyond the traditional handset. This relationship with BMW falls within the scope of that initiative.

The initiative is a key component of AT&T's business strategy to further grow its wireless penetration and develop new distribution models — and it builds on AT&T's industry-leading work over the past decade with enterprise customers to enable specialty devices to access its wireless network.

"This is an exciting opportunity," said Glenn Lurie, president, emerging devices, resale and partnerships for AT&T.  "BMW has been an industry leader in the connected vehicle space for many years and we look forward to providing the wireless network that will keep drivers connected to the content and services they rely on."

AT&T announced in October that more than 4.5 million connected devices had been added to the AT&T network in the past four quarters. The total third quarter emerging devices growth, which includes 1.2 million connected devices as well as embedded computing devices, was nearly 1.6 million.