BMW M Autonomous Driving and Electrification Possible

The future of the automotive industry is about to change drastically. Car manufacturers need to move quickly towards autonomous driving an electrification to keep up with customers’ demands. Can this also be a strategy applied to the performance models created by BMW M? Will they be obsolete in the future? Ian Robertson, BMW head of sales and marketing, says they will not let that happen.

Hardcore BMW M fans would naturally be against any form of autonomous driving or electrification because this means that the philosophy behind M cars will no longer make sense. However, in an interview with Car Advice, Roberston confirm that there will be at ;east some autonomous driving features in the future M models.

“I think the two things can go together. I am driving the new 7 series, it’s semi-autonomous, I drive the first 25 km on the autobahn unrestricted. I drive at over 250km/h, it makes me feel good in the morning and evening – but the last 10km is always in bumper to bumper traffic. I stick it in a mode that allows me semi-autonomous, I don’t use my feet anymore, can take my hands off the wheel and can take my eyes off the road briefly. That for me is marrying the autonomous world with sheer driving pleasure, because not all of it in an urban environment is that much fun,” he said.

Electrification requires batteries and thus additional weight that would prevent M cars from being performance oriented. Robertson still remained positive: “BMW M is enjoying its most successful period in history, it has got the broadest range of cars, they are sold out around the world and ultimately I see [electrification] technology that can move in both directions here.”