The BMW Group will pool its expertise in Unterschleissheim in 2021, when the BMW iNEXT is due to hit the streets. Autonomous driving, electric and fully networked. A whole range of highly automated models from all BMW Group brands will follow. To achieve this goal, the BMW Group will pool its development competencies for vehicle networking and automated driving in a new campus in Unterschleissheim.

Here, 2000 employees are to develop the next steps towards fully automated driving in the final phase, from software development to road testing. “The road to a fully autonomous vehicle is an opportunity for Germany as an automotive location. The decision to develop these vehicles in the Munich area and test them on the roads illustrates how the BMW Group and the entire region can benefit from this change in the automotive industry,” explains Klaus Fröhlich, Chief Development Officer at the Munich-based company. After all, agility is BMW’s core competence. From mid-2017, all competencies currently spread across various locations will be brought together in Unterschleißheim. “To be successful, we are establishing new forms of cooperation within the framework of “project i 2.0″: small specialist teams that act like speedboats, cross-company cooperation and a high degree of individual decision-making competence,” explains Fröhlich.

Agile teams, short distances – and above all short decision paths – will shape the new work structures. In the new campus, the software developer can test the code he has just written immediately and with just a few steps in the vehicle. “We combine the advantages of a start-up such as flexibility and speed with those of an established company, i.e. process reliability and industrialization competence,” explains the Chief Development Officer. “The future development site for autonomous driving will enable us to bring the BMW iNEXT, the first autonomous BMW, to market by 2021,” says Fröhlich. The BMW Group plans to test highly automated driving in urban areas as early as 2017 – in Munich. “We program it ourselves.” Around 600 BMW Group employees are currently working on the development of highly automated driving.

At BMW we program ourselves
A large part of them are software developers – and the trend is rising. “We actually still program here ourselves and can implement our ideas on our own responsibility,” explains André Müller, software developer in the autonomous driving team. “We use the latest technologies such as ROS (Robot Operating System) and can experience the results quickly and directly in the vehicle. This makes it extremely exciting to work on such an important topic for the future.” André Müller is looking for new colleagues. With the campus in Unterschleißheim, Bavaria will further expand the development of highly automated vehicles and is looking for IT specialists and software developers in the fields of artificial intelligence, machine learning and data analysis.

Image rights: BMW Group

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