The BMW Group and Daimler AG have signed an agreement for a long-term strategic partnership focused on the joint development of next-gen driver assistance and autonomous driving and parking technologies.

Further talks will take place with regards to extending the cooperation to higher levels of automation in urban areas and city centers. The deal is also open to other OEMs and tech partners.

One of the key aspects of this partnership is bringing new technologies to market as soon as possible. These are technologies that can be expected in passenger cars beyond the year 2024.

More than 1,200 specialists will work together on these projects, often in mixed teams, and at locations such as the BMW Group Autonomous Driving Campus in Unterschleissheim, near Munich, the Mercedes-Benz Technology Centre in Sindelfingen and the Daimler Testing and Technology Centre in Immendingen.

BMW and Daimler have already published a white paper (on July 2) titled Safety First for Automated Driving, with the likes of Aptiv, Audi, Baidu, Continental, FCA, HERE, Infineon, Intel and VW also participating in the matter.

The paper, aside from covering all relevant safety methods for Level 3 and 4 SAE automated driving, also introduces a traceability system “which extends from the primary goal – being safer than the average driver – right down to the individual safety objectives of the various components.”

Both automakers have been working on Level 3 through 5 technologies in these past few years, with BMW looking to put Level 3 systems into production in 2021, while also enabling Level 4 pilot programs. Meanwhile, Daimler wants to launch not only Level 3, but also fully automated Level 4/5 vehicles to market early in the next decade.