BMW has taken a bold step of changing its division “I” into a center for developing self-driving cars. This unit was previously famed for the production of lightweight electric cars. The automaker’s next all-electric vehicle will be released in the year 2021, which will be a significantly later period compared to competitors like Tesla. Tesla is set to release the much awaited Model 3 next year, while Audi and Porsche are currently working to release fully electric cars in 2019. BMW changed the trend following the low sales of its battery-powered vehicle, the i3. This is in contrast to Tesla whose Model 3 already has at least 370,000 pre-orders.
The lackluster sales prompted the automaker to change the focus of the “I” division to autonomous driving from the development of electric vehicles. This project has been dubbed as the i Next project. The revamp also comes following the defections of several high level staff members. A Chinese car start-up poached BMW’s “I” Powertrain Team Manager, Dirk Abendroth, the Engineering Division Vice President, Carsten Breitfeld, and the “I” Product Management Vice President, Henrik Wenders.
As a component of the self-driving push, the automaker is employing people with expertise in artificial intelligence and machine learning. It is also trying to integrate the roles of the current computer-driven aid systems such as emergency braking, cruise control, automatic parking, and lane-keeping support.
The sales of self-driving cars, where the driver doesn’t need to make an active input, are expected to gain momentum in 2020. This figure could increase to about 9 million by the year 2025. This information was given by analysts from the Exane BNP Paribas. China is the largest vehicle market in the world and this is where self-driving vehicles are likely to emerge and be adopted on a large-scale basis. The country is also fast at technology implementation. Last year alone, China sold more electric vehicles compared to a combination of all the global markets.
BMW also has a plan of expanding the reserving parking space areas for charging stations and electric cars using a mobile application. This market is still not consistent within different countries. The automaker already has Parkmobile and ParkNow, which are digital payment and parking services. Although Apple hasn’t made an official announcement regarding its plan to produce electric cars, there are still rumors regarding the issue. For instance, rumor has it that the company was conducting research on electric car changing last week. There have also been speculations that the company plans to begin developing autonomous vehicles.