Tapping on Intel and Mobileye as its partners, BMW has joined the quest for a fully autonomous, self-driving car and has committed to bring them into production by 2021. Harald Krüger, chairman of the board of management of BMW, said that the combined expertise of BMW, Intel, and Mobileye will help deliver the sought-after technology to the streets within the next five years.
Major players in the automotive industry have been bent on developing driverless cars. General Motors in January announced its plan for autonomous cars and followed it up with its $1 billion acquisition of San Francisco-based self-driving car startup Cruise Automaton. Uber is also currently trying out the technology with its test cars. In other parts of the world, China’s Baidu announced its aspirations by unveiling a Silicon Valley division devoted to autonomous vehicle development.
The BMW-led trio will see to it that they are not left behind in the race. In fact, BMW first hinted of the plan as early as May with its unveiling of a futuristic car concept called iNext. Moreover, Intel on the same month also geared up for the race with its acquisition of computer vision startup Iseez to help with its development.
