Currently reading: Autonomous BMW 7 Series models to test on public roads this year
BMW confirmed in its CES announcement that it will test a fleet of 40 driverless cars in Europe and the US

Around 40 BMW 7 Series test cars will venture onto public roads in Europe and the US later this year to develop driverless systems for future production models.

Announcing its plans at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas last night, BMW confirmed its intentions to create fully autonomous systems in partnership with IT company Intel and driverless technology firm Mobileye.

The three companies have been working together since last July in developing a scalable autonomous tech package that can be fitted to different models and offered on the market for use by other car brands. The adaptable system will be fitted to 7 Series models and further developed in real-life traffic scenarios from the second half of 2017.

P90245453 highres bmw ces 2017 5 seri

Klaus Fröhlich, member of BMW's board of management for development, said of the announcement: "Making autonomous driving a reality for our customers is the shared ambition behind our cooperation with Intel and Mobileye. This partnership has all of the skills and talent necessary to overcome the enormous technological challenges ahead and commercialise self-driving vehicles.”

Fröhlich added that BMW was welcoming other companies to join it and its partners in developing the scalable architecture, and cited BMW’s first autonomous model, the iNext, which is due in 2021, as the first model to benefit fully from the project.

P90245438 highres bmw connected micros

Advertisement

Read our review

Car review

New-generation luxury saloon is a technological tour de force, but competing luxury saloons like the Mercedes S-Class and Tesla Model S have set a high bar

Back to top

Intel’s role in this partnership centres around its high-performance computing technology that enables the vehicle to communicate with a data centre. The system uses artificial intelligence (AI) to plan routes, assess the local environment and constantly make new decisions.

Mobileye’s technology processes and interprets information collected by a car’s 360deg vision from cameras, radar, and lidar (laser) sensors. It works directly with Intel’s systems to create a car’s Central Computing Platform, where all autonomous driving decisions are made.

Join the debate

Comments
4
Add a comment…
TheDriver 5 January 2017

New Magazine

I think Autocar needs to introduce a sister magazine entitled Autonomous Car. That way the increasing number of articles on this subject can be incorporated into a publication that caters for those not interested in the thrill of driving.
405line 5 January 2017

already giving up

Bmw appears to already giving up with driving in general and now I can see why. As far as I am concerned renting or taking public transport would be a much better idea. Why would I want to own a car I didn't even drive?
Roadster 5 January 2017

Isn't the photo of the new 5

Isn't the photo of the new 5 series? Mind you, it looks so similar to the 7 Series which is being described in the article. Good old German one-size-fits all styling....
Overdrive 5 January 2017

Roadster wrote:

Roadster wrote:

Isn't the photo of the new 5 series? Mind you, it looks so similar to the 7 Series which is being described in the article. Good old German one-size-fits all styling....

You are correct, it's the new 5 in the photos, not the 7. But talking of 'one size fits all styling' it's not only the Germans that do it. Your beloved Jag also does it, as the barely distinguishable XE and XF attest.