In the recent wave of initiatives to develop autonomous vehicle technologies, non-exclusive partnerships between car manufacturers is becoming a common phenomenon. Automobile companies are looking to work with each other as well as different technology startups and software firms to build reliable and safe self-driving platforms.

German automakers BMW and Daimler are reportedly teaming up in a long-term, non-exclusive agreement for developing a scalable automated driving platform utilizing their combined strengths and knowledge. The companies have informed that other automobile and technology companies are welcome to participate, and the developed platform would be licensed to other OEMs as well.

The partnership between BMW and Daimler, expected to give initial results by 2024, would focus on building automated driving technologies including up to SAE Level 4, which is a fully driverless platform that will not require any human intervention, depending on various defined conditions. However, the initiate will also involve working on levels below that, such as ADAS functions like automated parking and smart cruise control.

Lately, conventional auto manufacturers have made numerous technology partners worldwide to leverage a combination of high production capability and proven engineering software expertise. In June this year, BMW and Pennsylvania-based ANSYS joined forces to deliver the industry’s first tool chain for autonomous driving. The collaboration was supposedly aimed at accelerating the development of safe driverless systems.  

Daimler is separately working with Bosch to roll out its first Level 4 & Level 5 autonomous driving pilot in urban areas, with operations to possibly commence within this year. BMW’s own iNEXT line of cars would be launched by 2021 having Level 3 technologies combined with electric driving for the first time.

Earlier this month, BMW and Daimler along with Audi, Baidu, Intel and six other companies had released a whitepaper proposing guiding principles for autonomous vehicles. It is fundamentally a framework covering the development, testing and validation of safe driverless cars. Interestingly, other prominent names in the automated driving sector including Tesla, Aurora, Waymo, GM’s Cruise Automation, among others did not take part in creating the guidelines.

The self-driving space has certainly drawn tremendous participation from established and new players alike, owing to a widespread conviction with regards to the potential of automated driving systems. In 2018, autonomous vehicle startups racked up more than $1.6 billion in venture capital investments in U.S. alone, signifying considerable interest in the segment.

Source Credits: https://techcrunch.com/2019/07/04/bmw-and-daimler-partner-on-autonomous-driving-first-results-of-team-up-in-market-by-2024/