Daimler and BMW have signed a contract to launch cooperation on automated driving.

The long-term agreement covers joint development of driver assistance systems, automated highway driving and automated parking to SAE Level 4.

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After further talks, the JV will expand to higher automation in urban areas and city centres. The two automakers will develop a scalable platform for automated driving but the cooperation is not exclusive and will be ppen to other OEMs and technology suppliers under licence.

The pair have joined forces to launch new technology faster and hope to offer it in passenger cars from 2024. The systems will be added independently to Mercedes and BMW model lines.

Around 1,200 people will work on the JV, often in mixed teams. Locations are the Mercedes-Benz Technology Centre (MTC) in Sindelfingen, Daimler Testing and Technology Centre in Immendingen and BMW’s Autonomous Driving Campus in Unterschleissheim, near Munich.

The target is a scalable architecture for driver assistance systems, including sensors, plus a joint data centre for storage, administration and processing, and the development of functions and software.

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BMW and Daimler, with Aptiv, Audi, Baidu, Continental, Fiat Chrysler, Here, Infineon, Intel and Volkswagen, have published a white paper entitled Safety First for Automated Driving. As well as covering all relevant safety methods for Level 3/4 SAE automated driving, the paper introduces a traceability system which extends from the main goal of ADAS systems being safer than the average driver to the individual safety goals of the various components.

Daimler has been working Level 3, 4 and 5 vehicles and this year launches, in San Jose, California, its first pilot programme, with Bosch, of self-driving level 4 and 5 vehicles in urban environments. Early in the 2020s, it will start selling Level 3 to 5) vehicles and claims to be the first automaker so well-positioned to apply autonomous driving.

BMW, in turn, has been working on automated driving since 2006 and has already established a non-exclusive platform with technology companies, suppliers and OEMs to move it to production. Since 2017, work has been consolidated at the Unterschleissheim campus. Currently, 70 test vehicles are trialling the latest technology. The Level 3 iNext will go into production in 2021 and will also be Level 4 for pilot projects.