PressClub Latin America, Caribbean · Article.
BMW Group and Daimler AG to jointly develop next-generation technologies for automated driving
Thu Feb 28 19:56:10 CET 2019 Press Release
+ Long-term strategic cooperation + Next generation of technologies for driver assistance systems and highly automated driving + Flexible platform and shorter innovation cycles + Technology to be market ready by mid-2020s + Klaus Fröhlich: Consistent pursuit of scalable platform strategy and pooling of expertise from two technology leaders + Ola Källenius: Working with the right partners, we want to continue enhancing this technology.
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Edgar Tellez
BMW Group
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Author.
Edgar Tellez
BMW Group
· Long-term strategic cooperation planned
· Next
generation of technologies for driver assistance systems and
highly
automated driving on highways (SAE Level 3 and
Level 4)
· Goal: a flexible platform and shorter innovation
cycles
· Technology to be market ready by
mid-2020s
· Klaus Fröhlich: Consistent pursuit of scalable
platform strategy and
pooling of expertise from two
technology leaders
· Ola Källenius: Working with the right
partners, we want to continue
enhancing this technology
and get it ready for the road.
Munich/Stuttgart . The BMW Group and Daimler AG are to join forces on 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 companies have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to jointly develop this technology, which is key for future mobility. 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 middle of the coming decade.
“As we continue to pursue our strategy, we are combining the expertise of two technology leaders. At the BMW Group, long-term partnerships within a flexible, scalable, non-exclusive platform are fundamental to advancing the industrialisation of autonomous driving. Combining the key expertise of our two companies will boost our innovative strength and speed up the spread of this technology,” said Klaus Fröhlich, Member of the Board of Management of BMW AG, Development.
Ola Källenius, Member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG, responsible for Group Research and Mercedes-Benz Cars Development said: “Autonomous driving is one of the most revolutionary trends for us at the moment, and the entire Daimler Group is working very hard on it. As always at Daimler, our top priority is safety. Instead of individual, stand-alone solutions, we want to develop a reliable overall system that offers noticeable added-value for customers. Working with the right partners, we want to make significant advances in enhancing the performance of this technology and bring it safely on the road.”
The planned cooperation offers the BMW Group and Daimler AG a number of obvious advantages: the skills and experience of the individual partners and a scalable architecture will speed up and streamline the development of future technology generations. Besides the synergies, new technologies will be faster to market, with shorter innovation cycles. For both companies, the safety of vehicle occupants and other road users is of the utmost importance and a key reason for making the reliability of systems a key criterion for the collaboration. The two partners continue to pursue their goal of being the pace-setter in development.
Joint development work will be carried out via a scalable architecture covering several stages of automation, with Levels 3 and 4 enabling automated driving on highways. In addition, the two partners plan to discuss the possibility of extending their collaboration to cover higher levels of automation, both on highways and in urban areas. These considerations underline the sustainable, long-term nature of the cooperation, which includes the aim to create a scalable platform for automated driving. The development of current-generation technologies and ongoing collaborations of the two companies will remain unaffected and continue as before. Ongoing development of latest-generation technologies and existing collaborations will remain unaffected by the projected cooperation and go ahead as planned. 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 platform.
Autonomous driving at the BMW Group
The BMW
Group has been working on highly automated driving since 2006, and has
established a non-exclusive platform with technology specialists,
suppliers and OEMs to take it to series maturity. Since 2017, work in
this area has been consolidated at the Autonomous Driving Campus in
Unterschleissheim, just north of Munich, and the industrialisation and
scalability of the technology is being advanced with the support of
partners. Brand new agile software development is used at the Campus
to speed up development of the platform and set new industry
standards. Around the world, more than 70 test vehicles are trialling
state-of-the-art technology. They collect data in order to improve
machine learning with artificial intelligence through simulations and
test new Level 2 - 5 functions out on the road. The generation of
technologies that is currently under development will go into series
production as Level 3 automation in 2021 in the BMW iNEXT where it
will also be Level 4 enabled for pilot projects.
Autonomous driving at Daimler AG
Daimler AG has
been working on series development projects not only for specific
Level 3 vehicles but also for Levels 4 and 5. Long a leader in active
safety systems, it programmed its systems largely in-house right from
the very beginning. 2019 will see the launch in San José, Silicon
Valley, of its first pilot programme, with Bosch, on self-driving
vehicles (Levels 4/5) in urban environments. This will be the next
milestone within the existing cooperation between both partners and
the cooperation will continue as planned. Early next decade, Daimler
will bring to the market not only highly automated (Level 3) vehicles
but also fully automated (Level 4/5) vehicles. It is the only to the
OEM in the world to be so well-positioned to apply autonomous driving
in every relevant context, from passenger cars and vans to buses and
trucks, and is therefore relying on scalable solutions to deliver
automated driving.
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