BMW i to Focus on building Self Driving cars

The BMW i division was set up to compete in the up and coming electric car market against the likes of Tesla. While the company has produced some nifty cars like the BMW i3 and Brilliance Zenoro 1E, they are now looking at another market which is the self-driving cars.

The BMW i division will be focusing on building the ultimate self-driving car according to Klaus Froehlich.

The BMW i3 and the i8, both electric. BMW USA

BMW I: “Project i Next”

While the focus has shifted to autonomous cars, BMW will not be abandoning the electric car market altogether. According to Reuters, the company’s next EV will be coming out in 2021 which is a long ways off. There have been many rumours of the next vehicle being the i5.

With the Project i Next, BMW hopes to also compete with ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft which is becoming very popular now. Uber has recently partnered with Toyota for ridesharing and leasing. Lyft also has a similar agreement with General Motors. BMW has made some recent moves in the ride sharing scene by investing in an app called Scoop. Scoop is a start-up which is features car pooling.

The BMW i3. Photo source.

Many insiders are looking at this move by BMW as a shift considering that the i3 has been outsold by competitors in recent years. Tesla has made a huge splash with the Model 3 selling like hotcakes. Both Audi and Porsche have also introduced electric sports cars that will further diminish the market share of the i3. In the last year, BMW has only sold 11,000 units and just 2,272 in the last five months. On the other hand, Tesla has sold 325,000 in pre-orders for the Model 3.

It is also an interesting move by BMW considering that recently, Queen Elizabeth has approved a legislation that will allow autonomous vehicles on British roads. The new law will allow drivers to legally insure self-driving vehicles.

It will be some time before we will be seeing autonomous cars on the roads with experts seeing 2018 as the start and 2025 being the peak of the self-driving car market. BMW has a good head start with the Project i Next. One thing is sure, the future of autonomous cars is certainly bright with BMW.