BMW opens autonomous driving campus in Germany

BMW claims to be the first company in automotive industry to apply the agile working model systematically and universally for an entire specialist area - in this case across autonomous driving and driver assistance.

The BMW Group has officially opened its new autonomous driving campus in Unterschleißheim, near Munich, Germany. As per BMW, this campus covers every base when it comes to offering greater capacity for innovation and increased development efficiency - and ultimately securing the company’s future sustainability.

It was 15 months back that BMW Group took the decision to pool together its development expertise in the fields of vehicle connectivity and highly/ fully automated driving at a single location. The campus, which offers 23,000 square metres of office space with room for 1,800 employees, was completed in record time. The site’s optimum infrastructure, its proximity to the Research and Innovation Centre, and the nearby link to the motorway network helped to swing the decision in its favour.

The BMW Group is intending to drive forward development of highly automated vehicles with the new campus in Unterschleißheim, and is looking to recruit IT specialists and software developers in the areas of artificial intelligence, machine learning and data analysis.

This is a time of disruptive change in the automotive industry, with the arrival of new players making the competitive environment ever more challenging. BMW believes that cutting-edge development facility such as its new campus for autonomous driving represents a crucial asset for the company’s long-term sustainability and innovative capability.