Written by Cláudio Afonso | info@claudio-afonso.com | LinkedIn | Twitter
A crash on the Baden-Württemberg highway in Germany between four vehicles caused one death and nine others seriously injured while the cause of the accident remains unclear. In reaction, the automaker said the car was not self-driving enhancing that it was a level 2 vehicle meaning that the driver “always retains responsibility”.
German Police said that an autonomous vehicle was involved in the crash but the BMW Group denied it on Tuesday and the crash is now under investigation.
Police spokesman said the electric BMW iX had five people on board, including a young child, “swerved out of its lane at a bend in the road, triggering a series of collisions”.
In a statement, BMW said the vehicle had “level 2 driver assistance systems.” It added that these are “already installed in production vehicles today” and are only capable of assisting the driver on request.
The automaker added that “In the case of Level 2 vehicles, the driver always remains responsible” enhancing that “only in the case of highly automated vehicles from Level 3 may the driver delegate driving completely to the vehicle under certain conditions”.
In late July, the BMW Group announced the launch of the pilot project Automated Driving In-Plant in collaboration with two startups to enhance the “efficiency of new-vehicle logistics in plants and distribution centers”.
The pilot project will run “for several months” and in the next phase, it will be rolled out further, initially on additional models at Plant Dingolfing and later in other plants as well.
In early May, BMW announced the extension of the partnership with Ansys to co-develop a simulation toolchain for advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) and automated/ autonomous driving.
“Achieving level 3 autonomy is a key differentiator for us, and an opportunity to demonstrate our high level of technical innovation in this area,” said Nicolai Martin, Senior Vice President, Driving Experience at the BMW Group.
Through this collaboration, the BMW Group is leveraging Ansys’ capabilities to be one of the first automotive manufacturers to offer Level 3 (L3) highly automated driving to consumers.
The collaboration is key to quickly addressing ADAS and autonomous vehicle (AV) system reliability to significantly speed time to market, the automaker stated.
Written by Cláudio Afonso | info@claudio-afonso.com | LinkedIn | Twitter