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GUEST COMMENTARY
Dipl.-Ing. Klaus Fröhlich
Member of the Board of
Management of BMW AG,
Development, Member of
the ATZ Advisory Board
© BMW
Fully Autonomous, Highly Connected and
Emission-free
In my last guest commentary for ATZ I wrote: “Over the next However, as an individual car manufacturer we will not be
decade, cars will change more radically than they have in the able to overcome this challenge alone. The future of the auto-
past fifty years.” Two years later, it is clear that the pace of motive industry depends on the general conditions and, most
change has increased significantly. In particular in the area of importantly, on our willingness to cooperate. We have clearly
autonomous and highly automated driving, we need develop- defined the areas where we need to enter into partnerships. We
ment hubs of a kind that would simply not have been possible and other carmakers have joined together to buy Here in order
just a few years ago. to ensure that digital maps will be available to all the players
In contrast to what marketing departments may claim, on the market. This mapping service gives us access to high-
I believe that autonomous driving presents us with an resolution maps, which alongside the sensor systems in cars
enormous challenge. It involves replacing human sensory are the other key requirement for autonomous driving. We are
perception and the brain’s thinking and decision-making now working with our partners Intel, Mobileye, Delphi and
powers with an intelligent system. Continental on industrialising the sensor technology and the
There are two driving forces behind the autonomous information processing systems in cars. Something that we are
vehicle trend. One is the fact that customers do not always already independently very good at is motion control, in other
want to drive themselves. The other is new business models. words, designing and controlling cars using the drive system, the
At the BMW Group, we believe that drivers should decide chassis and the brakes, and also complete system integration.
according to the situation. They can either drive themselves With the BMW iNext project, we have committed to intro-
in a vehicle fully customised to meet their requirements, ducing fully autonomous driving by 2021. The iNext will, of
where everything revolves around them as the “Ultimate course, also be emission-free. But for us that on its own no
Driver”. We call this Boost Mode. Or in the near future they longer represents innovation. With fully autonomous driving
will have the option of fully automated driving with all its capability, comprehensive connectivity and the interior of the
benefits from relaxation to entertainment, which we describe future, the Project i 2.0 will act as the incubator for our brand’s
as Ease Mode. innovative capacity.
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