The BMW Group and Daimler are to work together to advance the development of next-generation technologies for driver assistance systems, automated driving on highways and parking features (up to SAE Level 4).
The companies have signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly develop the technology. They consider this partnership a long-term, strategic cooperation and aim to make next-level technologies widely available by the middle of the coming decade.
“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 industrialization 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 Development.
Ola Källenius, the Daimler board of management member 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. Working with the right partners, we want to make significant advances in enhancing the performance of this technology and to bring it safely on the road.”
The planned cooperation offers the BMW Group and Daimler 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.
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 will discuss the possibility of extending their collaboration to cover higher levels of automation, both on highways and in urban areas.
The BMW Group and Daimler will also explore additional partnerships with other technology companies and automotive manufacturers that could contribute to the success of the platform.
