Photo: BMW
Taking advantage of the summer ahead, a period that traditionally is void of new car launches, BMW is setting up the required logistics for its future plans.
With its research into autonomous vehicles in full swing, the carmaker announced earlier this week it will set up a research and development center in Beijing, China.
The new location will be in charge with requirement management, testing and validation as well as development of services and systems. Over 1,100 people are to be employed by the carmaker at the new location.
“For us, China is a driving force of innovation, a place of inspiration particularly in the field of electrification and digitalization – we think China is the lead market in these fields already today,” said Klaus Fröhlich, BMW’s chairman of the board.
“We expect that the increase of our Chinese R&D activities and the collaboration with more and more top class Chinese tech companies will make a strong contribution to our global R&D outcome, especially in areas such as electro mobility and digitalization.”
For the remainder of the year, the Beijing location will conduct test with 70 vehicles across China, hoping to achieve a total mileage of five million kilometres, or over 3.1 million miles.
Prior to announcing the opening of the new center, the Germans announced they became the first international vehicle manufacturer to obtain an autonomous road test license in China.
This license would see BMW entering an increasingly competitive self-driving car market in China. 60 experts in autonomous driving would be conducting tests on several 7 Series models in the 5.6 km (3.5 miles) facility located in Shanghai.
Back in April, BMW said it completed work on the new tech campus in Unterschleißheim, Germany. This unit will be in charge with creating new technologies in the area of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data analysis.Their research would be put to the test including in China.
The new location will be in charge with requirement management, testing and validation as well as development of services and systems. Over 1,100 people are to be employed by the carmaker at the new location.
“For us, China is a driving force of innovation, a place of inspiration particularly in the field of electrification and digitalization – we think China is the lead market in these fields already today,” said Klaus Fröhlich, BMW’s chairman of the board.
“We expect that the increase of our Chinese R&D activities and the collaboration with more and more top class Chinese tech companies will make a strong contribution to our global R&D outcome, especially in areas such as electro mobility and digitalization.”
For the remainder of the year, the Beijing location will conduct test with 70 vehicles across China, hoping to achieve a total mileage of five million kilometres, or over 3.1 million miles.
Prior to announcing the opening of the new center, the Germans announced they became the first international vehicle manufacturer to obtain an autonomous road test license in China.
This license would see BMW entering an increasingly competitive self-driving car market in China. 60 experts in autonomous driving would be conducting tests on several 7 Series models in the 5.6 km (3.5 miles) facility located in Shanghai.
Back in April, BMW said it completed work on the new tech campus in Unterschleißheim, Germany. This unit will be in charge with creating new technologies in the area of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data analysis.Their research would be put to the test including in China.
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