BMW has announced its intention to launch self-driving vehicles in China until 2021, starting with its very first fully-autonomous car.
The news was confirmed by the senior manager for highly automated driving at BMW Group, Maximilian Doemling, at a summit on artificial intelligence and robotics in southern China, reports CRI English.
Speaking at the summit, Doemling said that the automaker’s i-Next, developed alongside Intel and Mobileye, will debut in 2021.
“If you’re expecting autonomous function where you can be on the highway, pressing the button and the car is doing everything for you, like lane changing and driving and that stuff, and you can play with smartphone, and you’re always safe, I mean we had the big announcement with Intel and Mobileye that we will have the i-Next in 2021,” he said.
As the BMW i-Next will be a part of the firm’s ‘i’ family of models, it is expected to feature a fully-electric powertrain, potentially similar to the one rumored to power the second-generation i8.
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