Munich. BMW Group, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and
Arriver Software AB announced a long-term development cooperation for
the development of Automated Driving technologies. The companies
signed an agreement for a strategic cooperation, which will focus on
joint development of next-generation AD technologies ranging from New
Car Assessment Program (NCAP), Level 2 Advanced Driving Assistance
Systems to Level 3 High Automated Driving functionalities. The
co-development of software functions is based on the current BMW
Automated Driving software stack first launched with the BMW iX in
2021, which will be further extended in the next generation through
this cooperation. In November 2021 the companies announced that BMW’s
next generation Automated Driving System will be ported on the
Snapdragon Ride™ Vision system-on-chip (SoC) including Arriver
Computer Vision and the Snapdragon Ride Platform’s compute SoC
controllers managed by Snapdragon® Car-to-Cloud Services platform.
The efforts will focus on creating a scalable platform for Automated
Driving based on a common reference architecture, sensor-set
specifications, and safety requirements with joint development,
toolchain, and a data center for storage, reprocessing, and
simulation. The cooperation will see more than 1,400 specialists
working together in locations worldwide, including Germany, USA,
Sweden, China, Romania, and the BMW AD Test Center in Czech Republic.
“This joint software development is an important milestone for the
BMW Group with regards to our next generation Automated Driving
platform. To enable sophisticated and safe functionalities in a
vehicle you need state-of-the art software in all components of the
digital value chain. This forms the backbone for intelligent driver
assistance systems. The BMW Group is excited to further extend our
partnership with global technology leaders Qualcomm Technologies and
Arriver to include a long-lasting strategic co-development cooperation
in order to continue delivering world-class driving experiences to our
customers.” says Nicolai Martin, Senior Vice President Driving
Experience, BMW Group.
“We are proud of this long-term cooperation
with the BMW Group and Arriver which focuses on co-development and
deployment of Automated Driving systems from NCAP to Level 3 customer
functionality in BMW upcoming series production vehicles,” said Nakul
Duggal, Senior Vice President and General Manager Automotive, Qualcomm
Technologies, Inc. ”Building on already commercialized stack
components from BMW Group and Arriver, this cooperation will position
us to extend BMW Automated Drive software to the Snapdragon Ride
platform, and expand the accessibility of safer self-driving
technologies to other automakers and Tier-1s in an open, flexible and
scalable deployment framework. We believe Snapdragon Ride will create
significant economies of scale and time-to-market benefits across the
automotive industry with the launch of the automated driving software
globally in BMW’s series production vehicles, which have always been
an exemplar of the highest quality, performance and safety standards
in modern day automobiles.”
“We are pleased that Arriver’s Vision Perception and market proven
NCAP features will be combined with the BMW Automated Driving software
stack. Joining forces with Qualcomm Technologies and BMW Group
Arriver’s team will co-develop the next generation of open and
scalable Drive Policy with world-class feature solutions and
performance. This co-developed product will be offered to our
customers globally. This cooperation is a key milestone for Arriver
and a proof point of the rich competence of our teams through years of
experience in ADAS safety,” said Giuseppe Rosso, President and
Managing Director, Arriver.
The BMW Group, Qualcomm Technologies and Arriver are working closely
together to establish and continuously develop an ecosystem for
automated driving solutions but remain open to further partnerships.