BMW and Daimler Working Together on Level 3 and 4 Automated Cars

The two giant car companies announced on Thursday the signing of a partnership that would see them working together for the development of Level 3 and Level 4 technologies for automated driving, assistance systems and parking. These systems should be ready for market launch as soon as 2020. 

“As we continue to pursue our strategy, we are combining the expertise of two technology leaders,” said in a statement Klaus Fröhlich, BMW’s executive in charge with development.

“Combining the key expertise of our two companies will boost our innovative strength and speed up the spread of this technology.”

The two carmakers did not specifically say what the technologies they will be working together on are, but did say this combined setup will allow the market launch of some of the new systems as soon as mid-2020.

Both BMW and Daimler have been working on automated technologies for years. Aside from the active and passive assistance systems already deployed in the cars they sell, both are working on automated parking features, machine learning tech and even artificial intelligence.

BMW is currently using 70 or so vehicles for testing purposes, aiming to launch the first Level 3 automated cars in 2021. Daimler, on the other hand, is looking even further than that, as it is already working on Level 4 and 5 systems, capable of driving and parking on their own.

For now, neither BMW nor Daimler have committed to a specific date for the launch of a fully autonomous car. This week’s announcement marks a decisive step toward making self-driving cars a reality even sooner than initially hoped.