BMW Claims That Vehicles Will No Longer Require A Driver By 2021

Imagine if Tesla was making such claims in 2013, that by 2017 (now + 4 years), their cars will not require a driver.

Sadly, few people -- or news outlets -- keep track of such predictions and then compare them to reality when the deadline comes, and so, *today* they raise mindshare and positive perception of the brand, without actually delivering anything *today*, and who knows if they'll be right by the deadline. That's some brilliant marketing for ya.

Telsa already has a driverless "summon" feature for V1 autopilot, but it is a very limited use case designed for backing the car out of your garage or tight parking spaces. This year they should have a summon 2.0 for V2 autopilot that will take it a step further (move cars in Superchargers to normal parking stalls with no driver, etc.). I think they will beat BMW by 2 years and have full driverless capabilities enabled in 2019 for some countries. I tend to be optimistic, but they have the leg up in terms of both expertise and data.

Also, I don't think BMW is wrong. MobileEye + Intel will make sure that any automakeer that doesn't want to build their own self-driving system can use their platform and it will certainly be ready for primetime in 2021. BMW is working exclusively with MobileEye. Nvidia + Bosche also will have a solution anyone can use.

009, headline doesn't quite fit the article. BMW is planning on having one particular self-driving car by 2021, not that ALL vehicles well be self-driving.

So much for their "Ultimate Driving Machine" moniker.

I think more to the point is the destruction of the Automotive industry that such a thing (No matter how close it is) would result in. IF all cars are limited to the posted speed limits - are controlled as to rate of acceleration - space between cars - required stopping distances - etc - why buy a BMW or any "sports" car at all? While interior appointments would still separate manufacturers - performance would not - so no need for bigger engines - greater top speeds - more horsepower and torque - and "handling" abilities. The cars would end up being a public enforcement of the British Taxi! And while rich people will always want something more luxurious - so Rolls Royce has nothing to fear - there certainly would not be a need for BMW - whose interiors are not all that great.

Tesla did not just announce a new Model, you are making stories up. When Tesla announced there would be a "Model 3" several years ago they said it would be a platform that would support a sedan, SUV, CUV, roadster, etc. The Model 3 and Y were always in the plans from day 1 and that knowledge was pretty transparent. Telsa made 0 announcements about the Y since Elon tweeted the name ages ago, there were no official announcements outside of that tweet.

@BobM, you are truly a moron. Look at the article, Autocar made up that photo. Tesla has never distributed an official render or even concept drawing of the Y.

BMW must stand for Bowel Movement Works then,

If I want to ride in a train, bus or plane, I will. When I drive, I want to be 100% in command and control of the vehicle.

Agent 009 - I do not know how to bring up a separate topic so I will post this here - A recent Motor Week review of a new Range Rover included a new feature - a Limiter that can restrict the speed of the vehicle to the posted speed limits - something I predicted would eventually happen. I would expect that law enforcement will eventually not only see this as a way of eliminating speeding - but also will eventually REQUIRE such features to be standard and cannot be turned off on all new vehicles. While the savings due to less high speed accidents and less loss of life would benefit - at what cost to the car public? How about a thread on that subject please.

The Ultimate Riding In Machine.