Self-Driving Cars 2016: BMW, Intel, Mobileye Aims To Make Door-To-Door Self-Driving Car Platform By 2021

BMW is teaming up with Mobileye and Intel in working with its first fully autonomous self-driving car. To be called BMW iNext, the first fully autonomous BMW car will arrive in 2021.

BMW, just like other automakers, has been working on self-driving cars for some time. As they have previously stated in their 100th anniversary celebration, the company will launch an autonomous flagship vehicle in 2021. The plan is teaming up with Intel, which will supply processing power, while Mobileye will supply driver assistance systems and sensors.

Production vehicles have recently been offering various forms of partial automation. However, compared to existing self-driving technology, the new generation of BMW cars are supposed to be able to drive on its own from start to finish. This is not just about helping the driver on the highways. It is supposed to be a door to door self-driving car platform, CMLviz reported.

While everyone knows BMW and Intel, Mobileye has been a quiet, although a key player in the self-driving car industry. The Israeli company has been developing camera sensors for cars in the past two decades.

Mobileye paved the way to self-driving cars today. It has expanded its product line from car sensors to supplying an entire technology stack to power self-driving cars. In fact, the autopilot feature of Tesla uses Mobileye's technology, GovTech reported.

While there is a rapid advance of technology in fully self-driving cars, regulatory challenges still loom large. There are still questions on the liability in a crash when the car is in control of itself. The US Department of Transportation is now drafting guidelines that would aim to stop individual state laws on autonomous driving from getting out of sync.

BMW and its partners reportedly want to replace the driver. It is an entirely different level of complexity where you simply summon a vehicle.