BMW and MINI reach important driverless car milestone

BMW and MINI are pushing driverless technology beyond the road and into car production, marking a major milestone in the development of autonomous vehicles.

BMW Group factories, including MINI Plant Oxford, are using Automated Driving In-Plant (AFW) systems that enable new cars to drive through production sites without a human behind the wheel.

The technology has now completed one million automated vehicle movements across BMW Group plants. MINI Plant Oxford is the latest factory to adopt the system, following Dingolfing, Leipzig and Regensburg, and has recorded more than 53,000 automated movements in the past year.

Across BMW’s production network, around 3,500 automated vehicle movements now take place each day.

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Importantly, the driverless cars react to people, other vehicles, logistics traffic and temporary obstacles.

The AFW system uses external LiDAR lasers and sensors, cloud technology and motion-planning software.

The system was developed with Swiss technology company Embotech, and BMW says artificial intelligence (AI) is being used to support its development and operation.

BMW plans to expand the technology to more of its European plants from 2027.

Raymond Wittmann, member of the Board of Management of BMW AG responsible for Production, said: “One million vehicles moved using automated driving technology and the deployment of this technology at four sites to date demonstrates the innovative strength and scaling capabilities of our production network.

“We recognised the potential of Automated Driving In-Plant early, tested it in a pilot phase and systematically developed it to series maturity. We are now rolling out this technology worldwide.”