Fiat, BMW Join Tech Companies To Develop Autonomous Driving Platform

What is the future of the automobile? Considering tightening emission norms, rising concerns over safety and growing disinterest in daily commuting the ideal future car may be an electrified self-driving pod - with manually operated cars being driven (in controlled conditions or illegally) by nostalgic old people or 'enthusiasts' with a death wish.

Considering how fast that future is accelerating towards us, companies are trying everything to be ready for the same. One of the most important technologies being developed right now relates to autonomous driving.

Car manufacturing giant Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is the latest company to join a collaborative effort between BMW, Intel and Mobileye to look at ways to develop a working autonomous driving platform which could be used on production cars by 2021.

The Memorandom of Understanding (MoU) allows these companies to share their expertise in their respective fields. While BMW and Fiat Chrysler can tap into their 100+ year experience in developing and manufacturing cars, Intel and Mobileye have been at the forefront of developing the different components that are essential for a proposed fully autonomous car.

The goal is to create a platform which can be easily adapted to be used by different car manufacturers worldwide, even those not part of this collaboration, to speed up its implementation. Mobileye is an Israeli technology company that has been constantly improving its driver-assistance system based on a single camera paired with an advanced controlling chip. The platform should be able to support Level 3, 4 or 5 of autonomy in cars. 

Level 3 of autonomy allows the car to take total control but still requires a driver to be seated behind the steering wheel. Level 4 takes the level of autonomy a step forward with the car being able to drive itself for whole journeys with very minimal driver intervention. Level 5 of autonomy is achieved when the car can safely drive itself over all road (or non-road) conditions in any weather with no human input at all.

BMW and Mobileye are already set to release 40 autonomous test vehicles on the road by the end of this year.

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