Mobileye, BMW and Intel team up to make self-driving cars

BMW, Intel, and Mobileye believe that automated driving technologies will make driving easier and faster.

BMW is teaming up with chip maker Intel and camera software company Mobileye to bring self-driving cars to the road by 2021, becoming the first major automaker to set a specific date to produce a fully autonomous vehicle.

BMW envisions a driverless fleet of ride-sharing vehicles that can operate completely “driver off” from origin to destination, a capability referred to as ‘level 5.’ The first automakers to launch such vehicles will be able to compete with or sell to existing services such as Uber and Lyft.

The three companies said they would demonstrate their technology in a prototype in the near future.

And the first step towards that platform will be a new prototype auto that can deliver level-3 autonomy (known as eyes-off driving) by 2017.

Earlier, we reported on rumors that BMW and Intel were set to announce an autonomous-car partnership. Production vehicles today already offer various forms of partial automation like dynamic cruise control and lane keep, and more advanced systems like Tesla’s Autopilot and GM’s Super Cruise are either in production or near it.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.

They pledged to make the results of the research available to other auto makers and electronics firms to help standardise technologies used in autonomous vehicles. It remains to be seen whether the production of self-driving cars will go as planned, as the government is yet to respond to the death of a driver, who was killed while driving the Tesla Model S. Precise surroundings maps will serve as the foundation for autonomous driving. The Mobileye Road Experience Management (REM) system and their EyeQ5 system-on-chip sensing system will be utilized in the iNEXT. “To make this vision a reality, cars – and everything they connect to – will need super-powerful, secure and reliable electronic brains that make them smart enough to act like human drivers”, Krzanich wrote.

With its Strategy Number ONE NEXT, the BMW Group has developed its framework to remain the driving force behind premium individual mobility.

In other news about self-driving tech, Palo Alto-based startup Zoox has reportedly raised a $200 million round of funding. We have already showcased such groundbreaking solutions in our VISION NEXT 100 vehicle concepts.