Starting in 2024, BMW and Daimler will offer cars with the ability to autonomously drive on highways. The companies are striving for a “swift market launch” of the next-gen technology, saying that it’s “expected to feature in passenger car systems for private customers from 2024.”
The competing German luxury car manufacturers are cooperating because they want to accelerate the development of autonomous vehicles. As part of this collaboration, the firms will gather around 1,200 experts to develop the software and technology needed, as well as organize talks in order to expand the partnership for the development of robot taxi technology for urban areas.
The official release from both BMW and Daimler said the two companies:
…will focus on joint development of next-generation technologies for driver assistance systems, automated driving on highways and automated parking (all to SAE Level 4). In addition, further talks are planned to extend the cooperation to higher levels of automation in urban areas and city centres. This underscores the long-term and lasting nature of the undertaking, which will extend to encompass a scalable platform for automated driving. The non-exclusive cooperation is also open to other OEMs and technology partners, with results being made available to other OEMs under license.
It’s becoming increasingly common to hear about automotive manufacturers proposing partnerships with competitors in order to share the rising costs of new technologies. Another collaboration which involves both carmakers — along with Audi, FCA, and Volkswagen and a number of other companies — published a white paper titled Safety First for Automated Driving.
It covers safety methods in the development of self-driving vehicles since the safety of self-driving cars is a big concern among many people. The report aims to draft worldwide industry standards to tackle the risks such a vehicle could confront. The overall goal of the paper is to prove that an autonomously-driven vehicle is safer than one involving full human control when the situation is regulated correctly.
BMW and Daimler in particular plan to sell cars equipped with the so-called level 4 automatic driving technology. There are 5 levels in all that determine the automation capabilities of vehicles which are determined by SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers). Level 4 allows the vehicles to carry out driving on roads and parking without the intervention of a driver, who will remain behind the wheel. The car can perform all functions itself, although a manual override is available to a driver in case things go wrong or if there is a system failure.
