The establishment of a new campus in Unterschleissheim near Munich marks a new, fully autonomous chapter in BMW's history. The crucial aspect here is that all necessary technologies must be developed. If everything goes according to plan, by 2021, the Bayerische Motoren Werke will introduce the iNEXT model, which will be the first BMW vehicle with level three autonomy.
There are 1800 specialists assigned to the task, working at the BMW campus in Unterschleissheim.
BMW Campus in Unterschleissheim: The Center of Bavarian Autonomy
Visiting the new BMW campus, it is easy to forget that it has any relation to automobiles. If I didn't know where I was, I would think this place belonged to a major IT industry startup.
In Unterschleissheim, almost exclusively developers are occupied, working in small teams, usually consisting of eight people, developing new solutions that entirely constitute the autonomous driving system of BMW.
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The systems of several autonomous vehicles, tested on highways and streets of Munich, are updated practically every day. After each trip, BMW employees also archive all the data obtained during the journey.
One car can generate up to ten terabytes of information in a day — currently, the BMW data center stores about 200 petabytes of records from autonomous vehicles.
Most of them have already been archived on 6-layer Blu-Ray discs. In the future, the company aims to store data on all autonomous vehicles it has produced. It may sound absurd, but the Germans claim they are dead serious.
When to Expect the Launch of Autonomous iNEXT
The first vehicles with fourth and fifth levels of autonomy are expected to be ready by 2021.
However, they will not be sold to BMW customers. The German corporation plans to start offering rides with these vehicles. In short: alongside the introduction of BMW iNEXT, the Bavarians aim to enter the autonomous taxi market.
Will they be able to enhance their autonomous driving system over the next three years to make this possible? I believe so. Considering that at the current stage of development, autonomous BMWs still perform flawlessly on the streets of Munich, 2021 seems like the most realistic date.
If, for example, Elon Musk were the president of BMW, fully autonomous taxis with a white-blue propeller on the hood would probably appear on the streets of German cities by the end of this year. However, the Bavarians prefer to wait another three years and during this time ensure that all sensors and algorithms responsible for managing autonomous BMWs work absolutely flawlessly.
Therefore, instead of driving around Munich, journalists were offered to take a 20-meter course on a special track at the campus.
The ride lasted about 3 minutes, so I can't write too much about it. I was comfortably seated in the back. On the tablet installed behind the driver's seat, I pressed the start button, and the car began to move. It was evidently a developmental version of the autonomous vehicle management system, so there was no need to complain about the lack of any additional features.
During the drive, the user of the autonomous vehicle can make it stop or use a sound signal.
