• by Chuck Martin , April 11, 2018

The BMW Group has opened its autonomous driving campus in Bavaria, where it will centralize development of fully automated driving.

BMW is in the process of transforming itself into a tech company and 15 months ago decided to pool together its development expertise in the fields of vehicle connectivity and highly and fully automated driving at a single location, according to a BMW announcement.

The campus will house 1,800 employees and is near the Research and Innovation Center and the motorway network. The company is recruiting software developers in the areas of artificial intelligence, machine learning and data analysis.

The idea is that a software developer at the new campus can immediately test code written in a vehicle just a short walk away.

“This is a time of disruptive change in the automotive industry, with the arrival of new players making the competitive environment ever more challenging,” stated the BMW announcement. “The pace of innovation is accelerating rapidly, and young professionals cite future viability, a modern working environment and flexible, agile workflows as key to an employer’s attractiveness. A cutting-edge development facility for autonomous driving represents a crucial asset for the company’s long-term sustainability and innovative capability.”