Before the Munich workshops BMW announced future plans for mobility, sharing, electrification and autonomous vehicles.
BMW claims that innovation remains one of the major strengths and opportunities for German manufacturing and the German automotive industry. Especially in the future core area of “self-driving cars”, many of the key patents are held by German and Japanese carmakers and their suppliers.
BMW Group has a clear strategy for development or autonomous vehicles and more than ten years of experience in autonomous vehicles. A BMW test vehicle already drove around the Hockenheimring racetrack autonomously back in 2006. Another milestone was the first autonomous lap of the Nürburgring Nordschleife in 2009. BMW will be concentrating its expertise in this area at our new Research and Development Centre for Autonomous Driving. The campus will be located in the Munich area.
Working with colleagues fromthe FIZ Research and Innovation Centre and external partners, this is where BMW will develop and test our fully autonomous and highly automated vehicles.
BMW Group has already made a successful start with a clear vision of the future for mobility ride sharing.
Phase II of of its electrification strategy will tranfer BMW i technologies to all other Group brands, series and models. There will be a MINI BEV (Battery Electric) for 2019 and a pure electric X3 for 2020. Next year, there will be a plug-in hybrid version of the MINI Countryman; followed in 2018 by the highly emotional i8 Roadster. This will be the first chance to combine e-mobility with genuine convertible feeling.
BMW’S architecture is extremely scalable across a broad range of models to use resources efficiently and effectively. Future architectures are designed flexibly for use in ICE, PHEV and BEV models.
BMW is adopting a 360-degree approach the BMW i brand. BMW i is a nucleus for successful new mobility services and business segments that go beyond the vehicle itself. Business in mobility services is developing rapidly. A large number of new competitors have entered the field. Th
BMW i Ventures was founded in 2011 – to make selective investments in young, fast-growing start-up companies. We have now significantly increased its capitalization (up to 500 million euros over ten years) and are relocating the unit to the heart of Silicon Valley. Everybody is talking about UBER and LYFT – but we are sting different priorities.
BMW will expand mobility services. Our fleet business offers lots of opportunities for the long term. The company willinly continue to invest in the BMW i brand. In 2021, BMW will launch the BMW iNext. This car embodies the four characteristics of modern mobility – what we like to call the ACES: Automated, connected, electrified and shared – in short: the mobility of the future.