BMW, Intel and Mobileye Working on Self-driving Car

BMW 6Auto-manufacturer BMW has reportedly teamed up with Mobileye and Intel to work on its first fully autonomous self-driving car, with plans in motion to see the car on showroom floors by as soon as 2021.

The car will supposedly be the first of a new generation of self-driving cars, able to not just assist driving on motorways but take passengers from door-to-door without any human input needed, essentially removing the need for the driver.

According to Bloomberg, which cites people familiar with the matter, the three companies are planning to announce the upcoming vehicle soon, and rumours of the car have already seen shares in Mobileye, which provides cameras, software and other components for autonomous vehicles, jump by 12 per cent.

Mobileye has worked with BMW in the past, along with General Motors and Tesla Motors, while BMW is a member of the consortium that purchased Nokias Here mapping business last year, in a move that was thought at the time to be preparation for powering a self-driving car.

Combined with the processing power that Intel can provide, which would be needed for an intelligent navigation and object avoidance system, the three companies are certainly capable of accelerating the development of the self-driving, autonomous car.

Doing so would place BMW in a powerful position, as consumer trends suggest that customers are increasingly seeking high-technology vehicles when buying new cars, and the development of self-driving cars could also prompt a huge rise in ride-sharing use, with car companies managing fleets of vehicles rather than selling individual cars.

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