BMW is open to working with additional partners for the development of mobility services such as car sharing, parking and electric car charging services.
The Bavarian automaker is already working alongside Daimler with regards to the latter’s Car2Go car-sharing business, combining it with its own DriveNow, ParkNow and ChargeNow businesses – each company holding 50% stake in the venture, as reported by Autonews Europe.
“We would like to welcome additional partners in this area, which has great future potential,” said BMW’s new CEO, Oliver Zipse in an interview with Frankfurter Allegemeine Sonntagszeitung.
Zipse also told the German outlet that BMW wants to surpass Daimler as the world’s largest luxury carmaker, although there’s currently no deadline by which this is to be achieved.
“Of course the claim of a brand like BMW has to be number one. Sales volume is not the only yardstick here,” added Zipse.
Also read: BMW And Daimler Join Forces Again To Develop Autonomous Driving Tech
Back in March, Daimler board member Ola Kaellenius stated that his company and BMW would develop next-generation driver assistance systems for compact and larger cars, and added 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.”
Meanwhile, also earlier this year, BMW development board member Klaus Froehlich acknowledged that Daimler had a bit of a head start in this sector as they have invested in the fields of computer vision – something his company would like to benefit from.
