BMW and Daimler do not want to pursue a development cooperation for autonomous driving for the time being. A later collaboration is possible.
BMW and Daimler’s passenger car subsidiary Mercedes-Benz have for the time being canceled their development cooperation for highly automated driving for cost reasons. After intensive examination, they came to the conclusion that due to the high costs for a common technology and in view of the general economic conditions, it was not the right time for this, BMW and Daimler said on Friday. Both companies wanted to follow their own development paths. A later collaboration is possible.
The corona crisis caused the automakers’ business to collapse. Companies are responding to this by cutting costs and reducing staff.
In February 2019, the rival carmakers announced their planned alliance and signed a contract for the long-term collaboration in July. The aim was to jointly develop the next generation of technology for driver assistance systems and automated driving on motorways, as well as automated parking functions. Corresponding systems in passenger cars should be available to private customers from 2024.
BMW and Daimler wanted to share the multi-billion dollar development costs and stand up to the Google subsidiary Waymo, which has a technical advantage here. Even before the corona crisis, the industry was disillusioned with the expensive technology because of the high costs.
However, BMW and Daimler want to continue other joint projects, it said. Together with other partners, they have the navigation data specialist Here. At the beginning of last year, they merged their mobility services in the Now joint venture.
