Lambo Blogging: FCA Joins BMW, Intel in Developing Autonomous Platform

Fiat Chrysler will join BMW, Intel, and Mobileye in creating an autonomous platform that automakers around the world can use to develop self-driving cars.

If you recall, BMW teamed up with Intel and Mobileye last year to bring autonomous technologies to production by 2021. They plan to make solutions for different levels of automated driving, from partial to full automation. In joining the collaboration, FCA brings to the table its unique engineering and technical resources, as well as its sales volume and experience in North America.

Always a big proponent of automakers coming together, FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne said in a statement: “In order to advance autonomous driving technology, it is vital to form partnerships among automakers, technology providers and suppliers. Joining this cooperation will enable FCA to directly benefit from the synergies and economies of scale that are possible when companies come together with a common vision and objective.”

The group will launch 40 autonomous test cars by the end of the year. Recently, Intel and Mobileye announced plans to build 100 automated vehicles to be deployed around the world, and the larger group can benefit from the data gleaned from these test cars.

A few months ago, Delphi was added to the group developing a common self-driving platform that different automakers can adopt and customize to their specific vehicles. Delphi offers its expertise in sensors, electrical architecture, software, and integration of all these features, as well as a data component that allows self-driving cars to “read” their surroundings quickly and make driving decisions. Intel acquiring Mobileye is another development that occurred after the autonomous collaboration was first announced.

“We welcome FCA’s contributions and use of the cooperation’s platform, which has made substantial progress over the last year and is rapidly entering the testing and execution phase,” Mobileye boss Amnon Shashua said in a statement.

FCA has shown its interest in autonomous cars in other ways. The company is giving Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivans to Google’s self-driving car project that spun off into Waymo. It also recently debuted the semi-autonomous Chrysler Portal concept (pictured above).

Source: FCA