BMW, Daimler join forces for automated driving technologies
As a first step, the development of driver assistance systems and automated driving on motorways and for automated parking functions (up to SAE Level 4 in each case) is to be advanced in the next technology generation. The two companies signed a Memorandum of Understanding to jointly develop this key technology for mobility in the future. The partners speak of a long-term and strategic cooperation and aim to make the next technology stage available on a broad basis before the middle of the next decade.
Ola Källenius, Member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG responsible for Group Research and Mercedes-Benz Cars Development: “For us, autonomous driving is one of the most revolutionary trends on which we are working intensively throughout the Daimler Group. Instead of individual isolated solutions, we are interested in a reliable overall system that offers our customers tangible benefits. Together with the right partners, we want to significantly advance the performance of this technology and put it safely on the road.”
“The BMW Group is building on long-term partnerships to advance the industrialization of autonomous driving as part of a flexible, scalable and non-exclusive platform. By bringing together the great competencies of our two companies, we are increasing our innovative strength and accelerating the spread of this technology,” says Klaus Fröhlich, Member of the Board of Management of BMW AG, Development.
For Daimler and BMW, the advantages of the planned cooperation are obvious: With the expertise and experience of the individual partners and a scalable architecture, the development of future generations of technology will be accelerated and more efficient. In addition to these synergies, new technologies are to be passed on to customers more quickly and updated in shorter innovation cycles. The reliability of the systems is a central criterion in the cooperation, the two companies assured in a joint press release. Both partners continue to claim to set the pace for development.
The joint development is to include several automation levels up to Level 4 via a scalable architecture, with Level 3 and Level 4 technology enabling automated driving on motorways in Europe as well as in the U.S. and China. In addition, the partners also aim to discuss extending the scope of cooperation in the future to higher levels of automation on motorways as well as for urban areas and cities. This underlines the long-term and sustainable character of the cooperation towards a scalable platform for automated driving. However, the development of the current generations and the cooperation between the two companies are unaffected by this and will continue unchanged. Both companies will examine further partnerships with technology companies and car manufacturers that can contribute to the success of the platform.
Autonomous driving in the BMW Group
BMW has been working on highly automated driving since 2006 and has established a non-exclusive platform with technology, supplier and OEM partners for the development to series maturity. Among others, Intel and supplier Denso are involved in this platform. Since 2017, BMW has been bundling development at its Autonomous Driving Campus in Unterschleißheim near Munich. The agile software development used there for the first time accelerates the development of the platform and sets standards in the automotive industry. BMW is currently testing the latest developments with more than 70 test vehicles on the road worldwide. The vehicles collect data to further improve the technology through machine learning with artificial intelligence in virtual simulation and test new functions from Level 2 to Level 5 on the road. The technology generation currently being developed will go into series production with Level 3 for the first time in 2021 in BMW iNEXT and will be qualified for pilot projects with Level 4.
Autonomous driving at Daimler
Daimler has been working on series development projects for both Level 3 and Level 4/5 vehicles for some time now. The Stuttgart-based company is building on its long-standing role in active safety systems, many of whose functionalities are programmed in-house from the outset. In San José in Silicon Valley, the first pilot for tests by Daimler and Bosch for self-steering vehicles (Level 4/5) in urban areas will be launched in 2019. This represents a further milestone in the existing cooperation between the two partners and will allow the collaboration to continue as planned. At the beginning of the coming decade, Daimler will launch both highly automated (Level 3) and fully automated (Level 4/5) vehicles on the market. As the only OEM worldwide, Daimler considers itself to be well positioned for all relevant applications of autonomous driving due to its complete portfolio from passenger cars to vans, buses and trucks, and therefore relies on scalable solutions for automated driving.
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