BMW Collaborates With Israeli Companies To Accelerate Autonomous Car Program

BMW Group Future Mobility Development Center in Sokolov, Czech. (Doc. BMW)

JAKARTA - After inaugurating the largest testing facility for autonomous driving technology in the world covering an area of 600 hectares near the Czech Republic city of Sokolov, BMW revealed plans to develop a second generation of level 3 autonomous technology for future models.

For a handless driving capability development program on its executive model, BMW is assisted by lidar company Innoviz. With the support from Innoviz, BMW is ready to launch a level 3 automatic driving system on the 7-Series model.

Cameras and lidar sensors are important components in increasing data storage on autonomous driving technology and ensuring fulfillment of responsibility requirements, as explained by Inoviz CEO Omer Kelif.

"In general, most automakers focus on using level 3 autonomous for use on highways. And when automakers want to reach level 3, the most basic question they need to answer is the speed limit for the first time. The sooner the car is able to drive on its own, the longer it takes to stop completely and be able to make decisions on objects that are further away, "explained Kelif, quoted from Autoweek, August 2.

Innoviz is an Israeli lidar company that is an important part of BMW's latest efforts towards handless driving capabilities. Through a new agreement with BMW executives in Bavaria, Innoviz will begin the B-sample development stage in a new generation of lidar technology, which will expand the company's first level 3 ADAS technology coverage planned to launch on the BMW 7-Series in 2024.

Although BMW admits that the future of absolute autonomous cars is still uncertain, a positive trial of Innoviz's Level 3 driver system on the upcoming 7-Series model shows that various other BMW models also have the potential to gain similar technology in the near future.

"Lidar is one of the key technologies that underlies level 3 autofunctions or even higher. Optimizing technology and lidar costs is a major challenge to bring a level 3 automatic driver to the mainstream. We are excited to have Inoviz develop the first B-sample of this new generation of lidar and hope that the results from the B-sample stage will be the basis for the possible expansion of our cooperation in the future," said Nicolai Martin, SVP of Driving Experience for BMW Group, quoted from Autoweek, August 2.

In particular, the BMW Group is also said to be looking for a lidar-based Minimal Risk Maneuver (MRM) system, which allows for analysis and independent action of the vehicle during an emergency driving situation.

Meanwhile, Mercedes-Benz as competitors already has a level 3 autonomous driving system publicly available, so of course BMW also needs to own this.