BMW Group and Daimler AG have signed an agreement to develop autonomous driving technologies. The representative of the two companies planned a collaboration earlier this year and now an official agreement for long-term strategic cooperation has been signed.
Initially, the aim would be to co-develop technologies for driver assistance systems, highly automated driving on highways and automated parking. Additional discussions are planned to extend the cooperation to higher levels of automation in urban areas and city centres. The market launch in series vehicles out of this co-development is scheduled for 2024, with the partners implementing technologies independently in their respective series vehicles.
The two companies will each implement the technologies in their respective series products independently. The cooperation will see more than 1200 specialists working together, often in mixed teams. They will be based at locations including the BMW Group Autonomous Driving Campus in Unterschleissheim, near Munich, the Mercedes-Benz Technology Centre (MTC) in Sindelfingen and the Daimler Testing and Technology Centre in Immendingen.
Along with Aptiv, Audi, Baidu, Continental, Fiat Chrysler, HERE, Infineon, Intel and Volkswagen, the BMW Group and Daimler have published a white paper entitled Safety First for Automated Driving. As well as covering all relevant safety methods for Level 3/4 SAE automated driving, the paper introduces a traceability system, which extends from the primary goal – being safer than the average driver – right down to the individual safety objectives of the various components. The paper was published on 2 July 2019.