Autonomous BMW vehicles to hit the road by the end of 2017

BMW engineer, André Mueller, tests autonomous driving technology in a BMW autonomous test car.

BMW Group, Intel and Mobileye announced that a fleet of approximately 40 autonomous BMW vehicles will be on the roads by the second half of 2017.

This news follows the partnership that was announced between the BMW Group, Intel and Mobileye in July of last year.

“Making autonomous driving a reality for our customers is the shared ambition behind our cooperation with Intel and Mobileye,” said stated Klaus Fröhlich, member of the board of management of BMW AG for Development. “This partnership has all of the skills and talent necessary to overcome the enormous technological challenges ahead and commercialize self-driving vehicles.

BMW engineer, Andreas Mueller does an automated driving technology check. By 2021 these systems will shrink in size but deliver superior performance needed for self-driving cars.

Therefore, we are already thinking in terms of scalability and welcome other companies – manufacturers, suppliers or technology companies – to participate and contribute to our autonomous platform. This year our fleet of vehicles will already test this joint technology globally under real traffic conditions. This is a significant step towards the introduction of the BMW iNEXT in 2021, which will be the BMW Group’s first fully autonomous vehicle.”

“Over the last six months, we have made very good progress in designing a state-of-the-art solution for autonomous driving on both highways and in urban areas,” said Mobileye co-founder, chairman and CTO Professor Amnon Shashua. “The solution has been defined in a scalable manner to allow affiliate automakers to meet their unique needs.”

To further propel the development of the autonomous platform, the partnership plans to release hardware samples and software updates in the upcoming years. The BMW iNEXT model, which will be introduced in 2021, will be the foundation for BMW Group’s autonomous driving strategy. Following this vehicle, a range of highly automated models from all BMW Group brands will follow.