-BMW Group and Daimler AG will join forces to work on automated driving technology.
-Initial focus will be on advancing development of next-generation technologies like driver assistance systems, and automated parking and autobahn driving.
-The technology will be market ready by mid-2020s
BMW Group and Daimler AG (parent company of Mercedes-Benz) are going to join forces to work on the next generation of automated driving. Initially, the focus will be on advancing the development of next-generation technologies for driver assistance systems, automated driving on highways and parking features (up to SAE Level 4).
The two German groups have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to jointly develop autonomous technology. The BMW Group and Daimler AG view their partnership as a long-term, strategic cooperation and aim to make next-level technologies widely available by the mid-2020.
A planned development between them will have a number of obvious advantages, believes both German companies. The evident benefit will be that of the skills and experience of the individual partners and a scalable architecture which will expedite and streamline the development of newer technologies. Besides that, new technologies will arrive faster to the market, with shorter innovation cycles. The two companies also declared that safety of passengers will be their top priority.
Going forward, the joint development of autonomous technology will be carried out on a scalable architecture expanding over several stages of automation. The Level 3 and 4 of autonomous work is under consideration at the moment. Beyond that, the two carmakers also plan to discuss the possibility of extending their collaboration to cover higher levels of automation, both on highways and in urban areas. This means that this collaboration won’t be restricted to development of autonomous technology only, but will also extend to a sustainable, long-term cooperation.
On the other hand, the development of current-generation technologies by each of the two carmakers and the ongoing collaborations between the two will remain unaffected and continue as before without any changes. Moreover, the BMW Group and Daimler AG will also explore additional partnerships with other technology companies and automotive manufacturers that could contribute to the success of the new-gen autonomous platform.
