Continental rolls into BMW’s self-driving consortium
Continental rolls into BMW’s self-driving consortium
Continental said on Tuesday it has joined the self-driving consortium led by BMW, created to accelerate the development of autonomous systems for vehicles.
The addition of Continental fills the consortium with everything it needs to develop a fully operational self-driving car. The German company is the second largest supplier of automotive parts by sales in the world.
See Also: Nissan turns over new self-driving Leaf with ProPilot
Intel and Mobileye are partners in the consortium. Intel is hoping that the arrangement will give it an avenue into the growing need for silicon in cars, while Mobileye is already a leader in automotive vision, like radar and sensors.
Delphi also joins the party
Delphi, another major parts supplier, is also connected with the program.
“We can meet the steep demands in autonomous driving through an industry-wide collaboration more comprehensively, rapidly and at lower costs than by going alone,” said Continental CEO, Elmar Degenhart in a statement to Reuters.
Collaboration programs are becoming all the more common in the self-driving industry, as leaders in one field attempt to strike future alliances. Mercedes-Benz made a similar agreement with Bosch in April. Google’s self-driving division Waymo partnered with Fiat Chrysler last year, and with Lyft this year.
The allegiance so far extends to collaborative research, but in the future it may include exclusive partnerships. Intel, in the time since joining the consortium, has acquired Mobileye for $ 15 billion.
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