BMW, Intel and Mobileye have joined forces for the development of autonomous cars with an intention to put them on the road by 2021.
Through their collaboration, the companies plan to develop future-proofed solutions that allow the drivers to take their hands off the steering wheel and reach the eyes off and mind off levels.
The companies plan to demonstrate an autonomous test drive with a highly automated driving (HAD) prototype near term.
BMW said its collaboration with Intel and Mobileye will be instrumental in the development of iNEXT model which will act as a foundation for its autonomous driving strategy and will set the stage for the deployment of fully autonomous vehicle fleets for the purpose automated ride sharing solutions.
BMW board of management chairman Harald Krüger said: "At the BMW Group we always strive for technological leadership. This partnership underscores our Strategy Number ONE > NEXT to shape the individual mobility of the future.
"Following our investment in high definition live map technology at HERE, the combined expertise of Intel, Mobileye and the BMW Group will deliver the next core building block to bring fully automated driving technology to the street."
Intel will bring onboard the technology to power and connect billions of smart and connected devices including cars. Complex workloads in autonomous vehicles will be handled by Intel's processors ranging from Intel Atom to Intel Xeon processors.
Intel CEO Brian Krzanich said: "Highly autonomous cars and everything they connect to will require powerful and reliable electronic brains to make them smart enough to navigate traffic and avoid accidents.
"This partnership between BMW Group, Intel and Mobileye will help us to quickly deliver on our vision to reinvent the driving experience. We bring a broad set of in-vehicle and cloud computing, connectivity, safety and security, and machine-learning assets to this collaboration enabling a truly end to end solution."
Mobileye co-founder, chairman and chief technical officer Amnon Shashua said: "Today marks an important milestone for the automotive industry as we enter a world of new mobility.
"Together with BMW Group and Intel, Mobileye is laying the groundwork for the technology of future mobility that enables fully autonomous driving to become a reality within the next few years."
Image: BMW, Intel and Mobileye to develop and bring autonomous vehicles by 2021. Photo: Courtesy of BMW Group.
