Daimler And BMW Looking To Set Industry Standard For Self-Driving Cars

In order to lower development costs and share the engineering burden, rivals Daimler and BMW have agreed to team up and jointly develop their next generation of autonomous cars.

Now, the two German automotive giants seek to set an industry standard in this sector, which in turn should spur regulators forward to clarify technological standards and draw up rules, reports Autonews Europe.

“It is a chicken and egg situation. Somebody has to standardize the technology and regulation will follow,” said BMW development board member Klaus Froehlich in Geneva. “It is to push technology forward and set standards already in generation two vehicles, and not just in generation four. We do not want to waste resources.”

Meanwhile, Daimler board member Ola Kaellenius, who said his company and BMW would develop next-gen driver assistance systems for compact and larger cars, also stated that “we should not invent this complicated wheel twice. On the path to setting these standards, it makes sense to share some of these investments.”

The two automakers will go on to form committees and pick potential suppliers of advanced driver assistance systems and autonomous technology in the months to come.

“Daimler started earlier working on autonomous driving; they have invested in fields of computer vision where the cooperation will benefit from this experience,” said BMW’s Froehlich, while also calling on FCA to join them further down the road.

“Fiat Chrysler is already a partner (with BMW). We want this partner in the future.”