The Financial Express (Delhi Edition)
BMW announces self-driving car after Tesla fatality is confirmed
BMW has tied up with Mobileye, an Israeli firm which supplies cameras and other sensors
UNDETERRED by a fatal accident involving a self-driving Tesla car, the German automaker BMW planned to announce on Friday that it would begin mass producing a car capable of operating itself in 2021.
BMW will produce the car in cooperation with Mobileye, an Israeli company that supplies cameras and other sensors for self-driving cars, Mobileye said. The semiconductor maker Intel will also provide technology for the car, to be called the iNext.
The announcement came only a day after a disclosure that an Ohio man was killed in Williston, Florida, in May while his Tesla Model S electric sedan was in self-driving mode. The car failed to brake when a tractor-trailer made a left turn in front of it, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, based on preliminary infor mation.
It is the first known fatal accident involving a vehicle driving itself using sophisticated computer software, sensors, cameras and radar. The Florida Highway Patrol identified the driver who was killed as Joshua Brown, 40, of Canton, Ohio.
The accident could undercut one of the main arguments in favor of self-driving cars.Proponentssaythatcars operatedbycomputerswillbe safer than cars driven by people, who can be irrational, incompetent or inebriated.
The death of Brown, a Navy veteran, could also push back predictions of when self-driving cars will become commonplace. The Renault-Nissan alliance has promised to have 10 models on the road by 2020 that will have autonomous driving abilities, though they will not necessarily be able to drive themselves all the time.
Sergio Marchionne, chief executive of Fiat Chrysler, said in May that self-driving cars were about five years away.
According to the Tesla website, the company also uses Mobileye components but developed the self-driving system in the Model S itself.
BMW has cast itself as a pioneer in new technologies and an aggressive defender of its turf against encroachment by technology companies like Google and Apple.
The German company has prototypes of self-driving cars, and it produces a battery-powered car called the i3. Despite the i3’s use of cutting-edge technologies like lightweight carbon-fiber bodies, the car has not generated as much excitement as Tesla models.
“Mobileye, BMW and Intel have taken the most significant step to date in offering a fully autonomous vehicle that’s ready for the average consumer,” Amnon Shashua, the chairman of Mobileye, said in a statement. ”In just five years, the driverless experience will be activated by the touch of a button.”
Another German carmaker, Volkswagen, already has a partnership with Mobileye, which it announced in January. Mobileye, based in Jerusalem, provides sensors for self-driving cars as well as software that helps the vehicles to follow roads and terrain, read signs and detect hazards.
BMW’s announcement comes with major car makers watching warily as Silicon Valley companies circle the auto industry. Google has invested heavily in self-driving technology, while Apple has assembled a team that is working in secret on car-relatedprojects.Therehasbeen speculation Apple might eventually produce a vehicle.
Both Google and Apple have been encroaching on car dashboards with technology that allows people to connect their mobile phones to interior display screens.
NYT