BMW, Intel and Mobileye team up to build self-driving car for 2021

[Tataffe]

This was announced today. The German premium car maker will team up with the US-American processor expert Intel and the Israeli sensor guru Mobileye in order to design an autonomous vehicle until 2021.

 

Now you might ask what advantage this will bring compared to the currently available systems. Quoting The Verge:

Quote

"Fully" is the key word in BMW's news today. Production vehicles today already offer various forms of partial automation like dynamic cruise control and lane keep, and more advanced systems like Tesla's Autopilot and GM's Super Cruise are either in production or near it. But a fully self-driving car — something akin to the Google car — is an entirely different level of capability and complexity where you simply summon your vehicle, get in, and let it take you wherever you want to go without needing to intervene or pay attention.

That means the term "autopilot" will be appropriately used for the first time (aerospace engineering student speaking here^^). The car's project name is "iNEXT", which had been announced before. It is generally assumed that the iNEXT will be an electric car. Quoting TechCrunch:

Quote

The company also mentions potential ride-sharing use cases with a technology platform that would let BMW manage a fleet of autonomous vehicles. And this could affect many areas of the transportation industries — truck drivers, construction vehicles, etc.

The iNEXT should reach level 3 to level 5 of automated driving (“eyes off” to “driver off”). The three companies will then share this platform with other car manufacturers. With an open strategy, these companies could create a significant revenue stream through licensing deals and more.

 

My opinion: Autonomous vehicles offer far more possibilities than many people think of. It is way more than "not steering yourself". Just imagine a city whose resident's mobility is exclusively provided by a fleet of autonomous vehicles, basically a mixture of public transport, a taxi service and a personal vehicle. The type of engine (fossil fuel, electric, fuel cell etc. or any hybrid of these) is not even important, although electric vehicles will be far more feasable then.

 

I'm really glad that there will be at least one alliance of highly experienced and professional companies dealing with the topic, companies which (at least to me) are not known for releasing half-finished stuff to customers or even celebrating it (looking at you here, Tesla!).

 

Sources:

http://www.theverge.com/2016/7/1/12078120/bmw-autonomous-car-announced-intel-mobileye

https://techcrunch.com/2016/07/01/bmw-mobileye-and-intel-are-building-a-full-self-driving-car-for-2021/

 

[themaniac]

well they do have intel working with them so they should have good cpu's and tech in it that could make this superior to all the other ones being worked on

[SLAYR]

18 minutes ago, themaniac said:

well they do have intel working with them so they should have good cpu's and tech in it that could make this superior to all the other ones being worked on

Well they are a little behind since audi already has an autonomous car.

 

And can the kidneys get any bigger?

[NumLock21]

So new BMWs will have a sticker on it that says "Intel Inside"?

 

[themaniac]

1 minute ago, SLAYR said:

Well they are a little behind since audi already has an autonomous car.

 

And can the kidneys get any bigger?

being late doesn't mean a thing, its having the best product that is important

[NumLock21]

There was a Top Gear episode where Jeremy was reviewing a car and it has a "Windows XP" or "Windows Embedded" sticker on the center console. Forgot episode that was from.

[SLAYR]

6 minutes ago, themaniac said:

being late doesn't mean a thing, its having the best product that is important

It does when there is a few years between technologies. 

 

http://spectrum.ieee.org/transportation/advanced-cars/2016s-top-ten-tech-cars-audi-autonomous-rs7

[NumLock21]

 

Not a concept drawing.

 

[themaniac]

8 minutes ago, SLAYR said:

It does when there is a few years between technologies. 

 

http://spectrum.ieee.org/transportation/advanced-cars/2016s-top-ten-tech-cars-audi-autonomous-rs7

ok, umm well, you win, but in 2021 when its released we'll see whats the best

[Tataffe]

8 hours ago, NumLock21 said:

 

Not a concept drawing.

 

That's not the iNEXT, that's the "Vision Next 100", which is a concept car.

[Mark77]

I don't think most of these software-centric tech companies really appreciate what is/will be required to make "self-driving" cars capable of operating in all weather conditions.

 

Its one thing to test your car on some pre-programmed course on a nice day in California.  Its quite another to deal with rain, snow, degraded instrumentation, degraded mechanical systems, and the transition between pristine conditions and degradation. 

 

Google's reliance on, for instance, LIDAR, pretty much says it all.  LIDAR doesn't work in rain, snow, or dust.  Its not even that reliable of a system.  Additionally, it is dramatically more difficult to create a 'self-driving' car than it is a self-flying airplane.  Yet we don't really have self-flying airplanes as of yet that meet the reliability levels that would be required for social license.  If they can't even get a far easier 'problem' in flying solved 100%, then just how are they going to be successful, in the medium term, with a dramatically more difficult problem of land 'driving'? 

 

Then there's the whole issue of the infrastructure required.  Who is going to spend the billions required to upgrade roads to support 'self-driving'?  Most states and governments can barely maintain the highways, nevermind have oodles of money left over for upgrades.  The economic model needs a lot of support which probably won't be forthcoming so easily.

 

Oh and maintenance.  We know that most vehicle owners can't even keep up with their manufacturer's recommended oil change schedules.  And other maintenance/repairs are often done poorly by minimally trained mechanics.   Do we really think that these people will be in any position to maintain an autonomous car properly so that it performs at levels necessitated for self-driving?  An improperly repaired wiring harness on a traditional vehicle might just mean your dome lamp doesn't work properly.  An improperly repaired wiring harness on a self-driving car might mean an entire instrumentation system is knocked out. 

 

My prediction:  self-driving cars will cost a million bucks, will have extreme insurance and operational costs, will only work on a very limited number of roads under good weather conditions, and will require very expensive mandatory professional maintenance and mandatory operator training. 

[Bouzoo]

It was inevitable, BMW even started adding i for their car names, like i8 and i3.

The ultimate combo, put i5 in an i5 and every thread will monitor 1 wheel.

 

 

 

I'll leave. 

[DXMember]

13 hours ago, themaniac said:

well they do have intel working with them so they should have good cpu's and tech in it that could make this superior to all the other ones being worked on

I think intel is more involved for the RealSense rather than x86 IP...

[NumLock21]

5 hours ago, Tataffe said:

That's not the iNEXT, that's the "Vision Next 100", which is a concept car.

I wasn't showing about the iNEXT. OP has the concept car drawing, so I posted video, showing it's real. Prototype but it's actually there. 

[maulemall]

well that's what I want. An M5 that I don't have to drive.

 

And a Really hot woman that I don't get to sleep with...

And an Ice cream cone that I don't have to lick.

[nuno1212s]

5 hours ago, maulemall said:

well that's what I want. An M5 that I don't have to drive.

 

And a Really hot woman that I don't get to sleep with...

And an Ice cream cone that I don't have to lick.

A very nice family that doesn't get run over by a drunk driver and gets to go home at the end of the night

[maulemall]

2 hours ago, nuno1212s said:

A very nice family that doesn't get run over by a drunk driver and gets to go home at the end of the night

 get smart enough to use a phone and call a cab.

 

[nuno1212s]

On 02/07/2016 at 11:19 PM, maulemall said:

 get smart enough to use a phone and call a cab.

 

Some people don't. Like I was taught in school, if your classmate does something wrong, the entire class has to pay the price

[maulemall]

4 minutes ago, nuno1212s said:

Some people don't. Like I was taught in school, if your classmate does something wrong, the entire class has to pay the price

find a new school. One that actually teaches.

[nuno1212s]

4 minutes ago, maulemall said:

find a new school. One that actually teaches.

People like you are what makes society a bad thing.

[maulemall]

1 minute ago, nuno1212s said:

People like you are what makes society a bad thing.

Thank you