Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. For those of you who don't know me, my name is Bill McEntreus, and I'm heading up Corporate Comms here at the BMW Group. So first of all, for all those who are viewing, welcome. We're really glad to have you here with us. And all those here in Kaixing at our tech center, welcome and thanks for coming at such short notice.
So I would like to for coming at such short notice. So I would like to also welcome you all on behalf of our CEO, Harald Kruger also on behalf of Claus Froelich, who is a Board Member at the BMW Group responsible for research and development. But most of all, I would like to welcome our 2 partner companies who are here today. And we have some great representatives here from those 2 companies. First of all, we have Intel's CEO, Brian Keresnage.
Brian, help me with your name. Keresnage. Thank you, Brian. He's responsible can you hear me? Sorry, he's responsible at Intel for the Internet of Things.
With us today are also our partners from Mobileye. With us today are also our partners from Mobileye. Co Founder and CEO, Mr. Siv Athiram. Is he here?
Is Siv here? Welcome, Siv. Glad to have you here. And also from Mobileye is Co Founder, Chairman and CTO, Professor Amnon Shashua. Great to have you here, Amnon, and we'll be hearing from you by all three later.
But first of all, before we begin, I want to thank all our colleagues here at the Tech Center. We know usually you're busy working hard on autonomous driving. Normally, we would actually do this event in the BMW VEDS and what we call the BMW Group Double Keg. But today, we thought we would be just a bit disruptive, and we thought we would actually do it here at our tech center. So first of all, I would like to thank all of our employees, all the associates are here.
And I can imagine you are as excited as we are about this great partnership moving forward, talking about autonomous driving.
So before we begin, I'm going to
give you sort of a rundown of the event, which will be more or less about an hour. First of all, Claus Fruhage is going to come on board on the stage and give us sort of insight on the framework of this partnership and what it means for all 3 partners moving forward. Afterwards, we of course are going to have the 3 CEOs join us on the stage. Each will offer us some insight why they are here today, what they are bringing to the table and what their expectations are at the end of the day when it comes to autonomous driving. Afterwards, we will definitely have time for a Q and A.
So without further ado, Claus, the stage is yours.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to BMW Group. In this research and technology center, which is very close to the campus of the Technical University of Munich, some of my best researchers
are working
on the future of mobility. So we thought this is a perfect place to lay the foundation of our cooperation with mobile and Intel. For us, this is a very important step into the future of BMW Group. Thank you for being here. Digitalization will cause a deep transformation of the automotive industry.
It will largely define tomorrow's mobility by connected vehicles. From rapid telecommunications and services on the one side up to the fully automated driving. In 2002, we launched our first connected vehicle. We have since delivered 8,500,000 connected vehicles to our customers. And as of this year, every BMW now comes with a so called embedded SIM.
Today, we already offer LTI 4 gs connectivity, BMW Connected Services, which help customers to find parking and charging spots and, of course, 1st generation of driver assistance systems. But in the near future, we will need much faster 5 gs network, new sensor technologies and redundant sensor clusters. We need enormous computing power in the vehicle and in the back end, state of the art hardware and software security and full scalability of the back end in order to provide extended vehicle services. For us always, the consistent and defining principle is safety and privacy first. All other things like potential business ideas, marketing, second.
And we have already worked on autonomous driving now for 10 years. At this year's CES, I had the pleasure to present our vision of connected automotive driving, which was this concept vehicle, right to me, the BMW iVision Future Interaction. And this car clearly represents our DNA. Breathtaking design, innovation and also in the future, driving pleasure. The BMW Group aims to play a leading role in the future.
So we have a very simple and clear goal. We want to be a technical leader in that field, too. And to be precise, this means autonomous driving level 3, eyes off level 4, mind off and the final stage, level 5, traveling without a human driver inside. And to make it very clear, we have a very realistic understanding of the challenges still ahead.
We are
strongly pursuing this goal with a holistic end to end approach, full system understanding that sets us apart from other companies. We are working systematically to establish the required, I call it, the technical building blocks. It's a high definition real time map blocks. It's a high definition real time map. It's a state of the art and redundant sensor cluster.
It's enormous computing power with artificial intelligence simulating a human brain in the end to create a real time environmental model. Of course, motion control, I think we are quite good in it, and system integration. And 2 things are vital for us. We are increasing our in house competencies, and at the same time, we are teaming up with the right, with the best partners. Last year in December, when I come back to building block number 1, the 3 premium OEMs, BMW, Audi and Mercedes, acquired here to pave the way to the high precision map.
It will offer real time data for all customers for all customers with millions of anonymous data sources constantly improving the map quality. We are in the industries together in this field and the interest is sufficient. The next and most important building block for the BMW Group is develop autonomous driving technologies in the vehicle. This includes the sensor technologies, supercomputing, I think we have to understand we need a leapfrog in computing performance. Use artificial intelligence simply substituting human perception, understanding and even prediction of the environment.
All the things we can do when we drive cars. To shape this new era of mobility, we will achieve this next step together with our collaboration partners Mobileye and Intel. Both have significant know how and extensive experience in technologies, which are crucial for highly and fully automated driving. You are the market leaders for advanced computer vision, are the market leaders for advanced computer vision, for machine learning, leading edge chip technologies and back end solutions with 1st class hardware and software security. We, the BMW Group, will contribute with our automotive competence, such as safety and software standards for this industry, of course, motion control and end to end system integration.
As leaders in our respective segments, we will join forces for the automated driving and to bring this into serious production by 2021. With our collaboration, we aim to set an automotive industry standard with state of the art autonomous driving technologies. And we have agreed with our partners to make our cooperation open to other companies too. Dear Amnon, dear Brian, together we will make this a reality. Thank you.
So thank you, Klaus, for setting the stage. And now I would ask the CEOs of Intel, Mobileye and as well as the BMW Group to come on stage.
So
of course, the first word will, of course, come from Hamnan, afterwards, Brian and then from Harold. Okay. Hamnan, the stage is yours.
Hello, everyone. In order to be standing here together with the leadership of BMW and Intel, 2 companies of great achievements and contribution to world economy. On behalf of myself and my dear partner, the CEO of Mobileye, Ziva Viram and on behalf of Mobileye, we're all very humbled by the occasion. Back in the early '70s, society at large could not foresee the great revolution of computing that came upon us decade after decade. From the personal computer in the early '80s, the World Wide Web in the '90s, the search and smartphones a decade later and the Internet of Things during this decade.
Today, we are standing at the brink of a new revolution fueled by artificial intelligence and robotics. We recognize that the car is the ideal platform for developing the technology of the future, a future driven by machine perception that reaches human capabilities and beyond and of machine intelligence capable of making split second decision in complex driving situations and when combined together produce a self driving car. Self driving cars, if done right, with the proper ingredients of technological innovation and very importantly, with precise focus on functional safety, would change transportation as we know it. Each of the 3 partners will contribute its domain expertise and innovation in algorithms, data centers, computing infrastructure, connectivity, design and validation to bring a self driving car to serious production by 2021. The self driving car we envision is the one that is fully autonomous in both urban and highway settings and is capable of supporting new business models of shared mobility.
Mobileye brings our leading edge algorithms and system on chip for machine perception, fusion, localization and machine intelligence for path planning. All three parties envision a close collaborative work on fundamental aspects of sensor fusion and path planning and sharing computing between mobilized IQ system on chip and Intel's computing platforms. This partnership is nothing less than a turning point for the automotive industry at large. No more building concept vehicles or conducting research or performing fleet testing. The collaboration is about a commitment for serious production.
The time is right and our combined legacies, achievements and know how, each in its own domain, makes the pursuit of a fully autonomous car an achievable reality. I'd like to thank BMW's management, including CEO, Mr. Kruger, for a decade long trust in Mobileye and the many production programs we have had together as well as Intel's CEO, Mr. Krzanich, for committing Intel's great resources and know how in the pursuit of this important undertaking. Before I end, there's a short clip that gives more color about what Mobileye does.
Thank you. When I was a student, we believed that the first platform for artificial intelligence would be robots. Today, we know that the first transformative platform for artificial intelligence are cars. Mobileye developed the most advanced and the most cost effective system that can understand through a single camera the driving seat, lanes, vehicles, traffic signs, pedestrians. We develop algorithms that reach human level perception.
So once the camera is sufficiently intelligent, signals can be sent to the car control systems to avoid an accident. This kind of technology will save lives. We did our development for about 8 years, and then we had our first launch of this technology, which is packaged into a chip. There's no moment that you say, okay, we're finished. The development that we do is endless.
Thank you.
So I'm going to start with Gott.
So that's
as good as my German gets. I don't know if that was even that good, but it was an attempt. I'd just like to start with welcoming everybody here today and really spend a minute thanking the CEO here, Kruger. It's just a phenomenal opportunity to be here and our partner Mobileye to make this announcement this morning. Intel and BMW, by the way, just celebrated its 10th anniversary in working together in building systems for driving.
And it's really been a great adventure that we've been leading up to today and today's announcement. We're really proud to join BMW and Mobileye in making this announcement today around really driving the future, we believe, of autonomous driving, an open, intelligent system that will bring it to life by 2021. At Intel, we believe the Internet of Things is really a collection of these smart and connected devices that will allow everyone to have new experiences. They'll be ubiquitous. They'll be all around your life.
I think the car really embodies that better than anything else just about that's out there. The experience of driving, we believe, is truly ripe for this disruption of autonomous driving. 90% of all accidents that occur today are caused by driver error. Distracted and drowsy driving accounts for approximately 13% of those accidents. And those accidents cost approximately $870,000,000,000 a year globally.
Autonomous driving, technology, the things our 3 partners can bring together today can solve those problems. Cars are rapidly becoming what we believe is the world's most intelligent connected devices. They're combining radar, sonar, lidar, a myriad of intelligent sensors connected to some of the best computing and machine learning algorithms in the world. They bring that driving experience to life in a way no other system can. Intel bring we're bringing what we believe to be some of the best computing capabilities on the planet That combined with the ability to do the sensor fusion, the artificial intelligence and machine learning and working with our partners, we believe we're going to build the best system that is out there.
Solving big problems is what we do at Intel. And with this partnership between BMW and Mobileye and Intel, we believe we can solve some of the world's largest problems around autonomous driving. We're honored to be a part of the exciting innovation to the future of driving. Thank you.
Welcome, ladies and gentlemen. And I'm really proud on this new partnership and my 2 new colleagues. Some might think that autonomous driving means no more sheer driving pleasure. As a true auto fan, I can promise BMW will always offer an emotional and joyful driving experience. Let me show you how the BMW Group think future driving should look like.
Start the film, please.
Okay. Please call Caroline.
Hello, David. Sent you an email with the 2 possible headline press pictures. Is it possible for you to take a look at them right now?
Sure. I'll switch us to video call. I'm in auto mode now. All right. I see your content.
I guess option 1 would be a better fit for our main efficiency strategy.
I think so too. I'll talk to the team and we'll move on with this. Thanks.
We should go for lunch when I'm back in Munich next week. I see, Thursday could work.
It does. Great. Looking forward to it and good luck for your meeting.
Thank you.
David, there's traffic ahead. To keep your estimated arrival time,
I suggest leaving the highway at exit 5 for
an alternative route downtown. Okay.
Isn't this nice? I will pick you up after the meeting. With that special perfect day like today, I would enjoy that.
You have
just seen a glimpse of self driving and sheer driving pleasure in the future. And one thing I know for sure, the future of humility is extremely exciting. You can see that. You can feel that. Digitalization is accelerating at a rapid pace.
It has already completed and changed the way we communicate. Our company has always been for known for looking ahead and thinking long term. With our strategy number 1 next, we are setting the framework to change in the automotive sector. We will lead the BMW Group into a new area, one in which we will transform and shape both individual mobility and the entire sector for years to come. We see the changes sweeping across the world of mobility through digitalization and an excellent opportunity to make mobile life simpler, safer and more convenient.
In the BMW Group, we always strive for technological leadership. With strategy number 1 next, we are further strengthening the approach for the future of the BMW Group and the benefits of our customers. Step by step, we are evolving from an engineering business to a tech company, providing individual premium mobility and services. Our focus is on future mobility addresses 4 areas, which we call ACES: autonomous driving, connectivity, electric and or emissions free and sharing, especially for urban mobility. Last year, we paved the way for high precision mapping when we joined with partner companies to acquire Map Service here.
This was the first strategic step. Today marks another big further step in our realization of autonomous driving. Together with our great partners, Intel and Mobileye, we will develop the necessary solutions and innovative systems for highly and fully automated driving. We will bring these technologies into serious production for 2021 with the BMW iNEXT. Our goal is clearly defined.
We would like to be the number 1 in autonomous driving. The collaboration underscores our commitment to achieve that goal. We are delighted to be working together with Intel and Mobile High. Our teams around the world are already working. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.
Thank you, gentlemen. So are there any questions? This is your moment. I can't really see anybody. Okay.
Yes, in the back. There's a microphone for you.
Yes. Thank you. Elizabeth Berman from Bloomberg News. Can you tell us a little bit more about the funding for this venture that you have in mind? How much money are you each planning to commit to this?
And then secondly, you talked about how you want to have these cars driving around in urban environments in 5 years' time, which is quite soon. How can you be sure that your car will be ready for the real world, in particular, thinking about the accident with the Tesla car we've just had? Thank you.
Would you like to start, Haman?
I can start. In terms of resources, we are spending at least 10700 people. In terms of the challenges ahead, now 5 years is, on one hand, is a very short time. On the other hand, is sufficient time to do the types of validations that are needed. Validations include not only 100 of 1000 or 1000000 of kilometers of validation, but also many simulations, real time simulations with artificial but realistic scenes in order to test, you know, emerging into traffic and other things that are beyond sensing.
It is all the driving intelligence that is needed to merge into traffic with human driving behavior type of human driving behavior. And I think it is very important, especially given this accident that we hear about in the news, that companies would be very transparent about limitations of the system. Not enough to tell the driver you need to be alert, you need to tell the driver why you need to be alert. It's not only lawyer talk. If you need to be alert, you need to tell the driver why you need to be alert.
It's not only lawyer talk. And I think a company as reputable as BMW does things right in that respect.
Errol, would you like to add something? Yes.
First of all, I think the accident is really very sad. And from our perspective, talking about the BMW Group, we need the next years. That's why we announced that we will take the step to autonomous driving in 2021. And we believe by today, the technologies are not ready for serious production.
Brian, would you like to add anything?
I'll put hundreds of people, several 100 people on this project. And if you take a look at the overall spending in hardware and software, several $100,000,000 to bring this to life. I look at this as though something that will teach us about machine learning and really autonomous engineering for multiple types of applications. 5 years, I think if you take a look at this, enough engineers have looked at this, I think if you take a look at this, enough engineers have looked at this problem and broken it down and tried to understand the systems that have to be developed, the safety systems, the rigor that we have to apply to this. And I think you've got the right three set of partners to apply that kind of engineering rigor to this problem.
I'm fairly confident that we can do this in the 5 year time frame.
Good. There's another question. Could you please raise your hand? Yes, here. Mr.
Fete?
Yes. Thank you. The term autonomous driving is used very differently. When you talk about 2021, could you explain is this left? What are we talking about for 2021?
Thanks.
I'm now going to start. Yes.
So in 2021, we're talking about those level 3 and level 5. So level 3 in the local jargon here is highly autonomous driving, limited to highways, but on a highway you're completely safe. It means you can really take eyes off and you know that there is a significant grace period from the time the system is compromised. You know that there is a significant grace period from the time the system is compromised until you really need to take control. And if you don't take control, the system will know how to set to stop aside slowly in a safe manner.
So level 3 is safe, autonomous driving but limited only to highways. At the same time, 2021, we are envisioning fully autonomous driving in geo fenced area. Take a city like Munich and geo fenced a certain area of it, and in that area, provide safe, completely level 5 autonomous driving.
Would you like to add something, Harald?
For the BMW Group, safety comes first. Definitely as the most important topic. And we will do step by step, as Amnon just explained, where we would like to be and where we would like to achieve in 2021. But safety comes first.
Brian, in your opinion?
No, that's very well explained by Adnan. Okay, good.
Next question. I can't is there another hand up that I haven't seen?
Yes. Can you talk a little bit about the open platform you're going to create? Who will join that or who and which partners are you interested? Who and which partners are you interested?
Should I just start, Harald?
No, I start. I mean, first of all, we would like to create a standard, a standard platform, which means like with Nokia here, we are open that others would join. It's too early to say who could be that, but we would like to have a standard open platform where other partners would join in the future. That's the strategic approach.
And from your side, Amnon?
Yes. I think standardization is very important because we need to work with regulatory bodies. And regulatory bodies, they need to see a standardization emerging. But if each car manufacturer decides on a different set of sensing and different set of software stacks, different sets of validation and so forth, it could create a chaos in this industry. And BMW's idea of leading toward the standardization, of course, in discussion with all other car manufacturers, I think it is very important.
It will push the industry overall. It will push the envelope further into the future, and there is enough elements there to differentiate between car manufacturers. It's not that all car manufacturers will do the same thing, but there are many elements that need to be standardized. And I think starting the discussion of standardization is really a turning point in what we're all doing here. Brian, anything
to add?
Yes. I think standardization is critical. And I think if you take a look at it if you take a look at the history of computing, it's when you've had standardization around open standards. So it's this thing about open standards that allow people to contribute, to add to it and to advance it at a faster rate as an open group. Those have always led the compute industry, and this is really a compute type problem we're looking at here.
And you can take a look at connectivity standards like USB or any of those. And it was when they're open and a standard and everybody started using them, they really become ubiquitous. And I think when you're looking at something like this and you're looking at the vehicle safety and the driver safety, that standardization and that open so that people are learning and sharing is going to be critical for advancing the safety aspects of this. And that's where I think this is really valuable.
Another question? Any questions over here? No? Okay. Well, I think we have basically made our journalists and the media happy so far.
Yes. Yes. A little bit. Wait one second. Actually, I would like to thank all the people who are viewing around the world that they joined us today for this momentous occasion.
And on behalf of the BMW Group, Intel, as well as Mobileye, thanks for joining us. And for those who are in the room, I would really appreciate if you could sit for a few seconds because we want to do a photo shoot. Thanks for coming and good luck to everybody.