BMW is looking for a major automaker to join it and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles in an autonomous driving partnership, Auto News reports.
BMW, like so many other car manufacturers, knows that it must collaborate with other companies to bring autonomous technologies to the road in a timely fashion. Consequently, it has teamed with the likes of Intel, Mobileye, Continental, Delphi Automotive and FCA to pool resources and create a scalable architecture that can be used by numerous firms.
Speaking about the hunt for a third major automaker to join it, senior vice president of autonomous driving for BMW Group, Elmar Frickenstein, said the brand wants to push forward to launch its self-driving iNEXT by 2021.
“The road is open by the end of the year, and we have some good discussions with different other OEMs. The confidence level is high that we will do it by the end of the year.
“At a very, very early stage, we know we cannot do everything alone. So we need a cross-industry collaboration to do autonomous driving for the BMW iNEXT. We opened the platform. So with the footprint of BMW, Fiat and Chrysler, we are open to market small cars to premium cars to different areas of the world. The footprint is broader than BMW alone,” Frickenstein said.
At the current rate, the German car brand wants its iNEXT to achieve level 3 semi-autonomous driving, meaning the driver will be able to take their eyes off the road in most situations. In the future, it may look to add level 4 and level 5 capabilities to the car.
Note: BMW Vision Next 100 concept pictured
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