BMW CEO: We Aim To Have Autonomous Cars by 2021

According to BMW CEO Harald Krueger, BMW Group financials are currently great. Still, he doesn’t want to risk losing the crown to Mercedes and Audi and the innovations they are bringing. In order to stay on top of the premium segment, BMW will have to make some changes.

BMW is ready to invest more and innovate the research and development department. Also, they want new partnerships if needed, such as the ones with Mobileye and Intel.

Krueger said they have a five-year plan:

We have a clear objective: to be the technology and innovation leader for individual mobility in the digital age. To achieve this, we are establishing selected partnerships. Together with Intel and Mobileye, we aim to develop the technology for autonomous driving within five years. All three partners will pool their know-how in the fields of automotive engineering, technology, computer vision and machine learning.

The BMW CEO stated that BMW needs a comprehensive legislation in order to make these autonomous cars functional and help the society in a way they want to:

With our BMW iNEXT, we aim to have a solution for highly and fully-autonomous driving ready for series production and on the market in 2021. For us it has always been clear: The safety of drivers, passengers and pedestrians remains our top priority. As I stated before, the technology for fully autonomous driving is not yet fully mature. We will also need a clear legal framework to accompany the introduction of this technology”.