Continental becomes development partner for BMW, Intel and Mobileye autonomous driving platform

Technology company Continental has become a development partner and system integrator of the collaboration between BMW Group, Intel and Mobileye for automated driving. These three companies aim to establish a new cooperation model for highly and fully automated driving that will provide scalable solutions for the entire automotive industry worldwide.

As a system integrator, Continental will play a key role in the industrialisation of the platform for other automotive manufacturers and to bring the joint solutions to the market more quickly. The BMW Group, Intel and Mobileye already bundled their resources and know-how in July 2016 to ensure series production of highly and fully automated BMW vehicles by 2021.

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The range and complexity of the technical systems required for automated driving are enormous. Continental’s competence extends to the full, necessary range of products and services. This includes surrounding sensors, environment model, driving functions, system architecture, functional safety, control units, brake systems, tyres, complete powertrain systems as well as systems for human-machine-dialogue and system validations.

The components and systems required for automated driving are developed and produced at locations all over the world – in the USA, Japan, China, India and Europe. Maintaining close contact across national borders and conducting tests with development vehicles on public roads in all regions are vital in ensuring that vehicle manufacturers can gradually bring this technology, which can be adapted to specific local requirements, into series production.

Commenting on the announcement, Frank Jourdan, Member of the Executive Board of Continental AG and Head of the Chassis & Safety Division, Continental AG, said: “We have already had very good experience in working with the BMW Group through jointly successfully completed development and series projects. Contributing development and integration for the partnership is a recognition of our extensive competence in the field of automated driving. The cooperation with the core partners involved represents the unique opportunity to drive ahead and get this technology of the future to our roads more quickly.”

"Every new Tier 1 partner brings us a step closer to our goal: We intend to bring safe autonomous driving to series production by 2021 and actively shape this technology," said Klaus Fröhlich, Member of the Board of Management of BMW AG for Development, on behalf of the cooperation of BMW Group, Intel and Mobileye. "With our non-exclusive approach to this technology of the future we will deliver a safe, fast and cost-efficient solution that is highly attractive also for other manufacturers."

Karl Haupt, Head of Business Unit Advanced Driver Assistance Systems, Chassis & Safety Division, Continental AG, said: “Such partnerships have a great advantage with regard to the complexity of the technology as well as the development efforts: we do not need to reinvent the solutions developed by any of our partners. After all, we can utilise their knowledge and draw upon already tried-and-tested examples on the road and adapt these to the most diverse customer needs. Together with the partners involved, we can work more efficiently on R&D tasks in order to realise the next generations of the technologies for automated driving. In addition, this collaboration will provide solutions that are more cost-effective for our customers and affordable to end users.”