IoT/IIoT Device Management , Digital Transformation , Industry 4.0
What Does the Car of the Future Look Like? Ask BMW
From AI to Quantum Computing, Here's What's Accelerating BMW's Digital Innovation
The car of the future may not have wings, and it may not have a cockpit either. With that in mind, manufacturers are racing to build the ultimate car - driverless, electric and with a mind of its own. At the forefront of this digital innovation is premium German car manufacturer BMW.
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With a legacy of over 100 years, BMW has built a reputation for precision engineering and commitment to innovation. But the modern challenge goes beyond traditional craftsmanship. BMW invested nearly 4.2 billion euros in the first half of 2024 for research and development, mainly focusing on the electrification of its vehicle portfolio and in-car digital innovations.
"We are investing in the future of our company like never before," said Walter Mertl, member of the board of management responsible for finance at BMW. This push is part of a larger commitment to digital transformation, which includes using cutting-edge technologies in production, logistics and customer experience.
AI for Autonomous Driving and Vehicle Safety
Artificial intelligence is one of several cross-industry tech trends significant for the BMW Group and the broader automotive industry. Beyond enhancing in-car experiences through its in-house generative AI platform, AI is central to BMW's vision for autonomous driving.
A key component of its evolution is multimodal AI. By analyzing inputs from different sensors - such as cameras, microphones and GPS - the technology oversees industry and manufacturing processes, ensuring vehicle safety.
BMW is also pioneering large action models, or LAMs - a groundbreaking development in driver assistance systems and full vehicle automation. Five interconnected components make a functioning LAM:
- Character, which guides LAMs for generating actions and evaluating feedback;
- Planning, which generates a suitable action sequence;
- Memory, which retrieves relevant information;
- Action, which performs the planning stage;
- Sensing, which receives feedback from the environment and passes it to the planning component.
The company has also partnered with California-based Figure AI to deploy general-purpose robots in automotive manufacturing environments and explore advanced technologies, including manufacturing virtualization and robot integration.
Quantum Computing to Optimize Vehicle Design and Logistics
Car manufacturers are increasingly recognizing the potential of quantum computing to optimize vehicle design and manufacturing, manage supply chains and solve complex challenges beyond standard computing capabilities. According to a report by Precedence Research, global quantum computing in automotive market size is expected to reach around $5,305 million by 2033.
BMW CEO Oliver Zipse called it "one of the most promising future technologies that can revolutionize application fields from materials research to automated driving."
Through quantum computing, BMW will simulate and test various chemical compounds more effectively, leading to optimized battery life and performance while also enhancing sustainability efforts.
Quantum computing also will process vast amounts of data simultaneously to predict traffic patterns and optimize vehicle performance - a key requirement for autonomous driving. It offers possibilities in manufacturing logistics that will help "create, reconfigure and impact entire value chains," BMW said in its report.
Connected Cars and IoT: Redefining User Experience
Over 22 million BMWs globally operate as Connected Cars, linked to the BMW Cloud. The latest generation of BMW Group models are all software-defined vehicles, integrated with BMW iDrive, meant to elevate driver-car interactions.
Enabled with IoT, the vehicles stay in sync with their environments. The ConnectedDrive feature, for example, enables predictive maintenance by using IoT sensors to monitor vehicle health and performance in real time and notify drivers about upcoming maintenance needs.
IoT also paves the way for vehicle-to-infrastructure, or V2X, communication, which enables BMW cars to interact with traffic lights, road signs and other vehicles. But a smart car is more than just internet-connected.
The company is redefining automotive production, focusing on three key pillars - lean, green and digital - exemplified in the BMW iFactory.
"The BMW iFactory is advancing digitalization by taking data consistency to a completely new level along the entire value chain and across every one of our process chains," said Milan Nedeljković, BMW AG board member for production. "Data science, artificial intelligence and virtualization are making the BMW iFactory digital."
Digitalization: Onward and Upward
Digitalization is not a buzzword for BMW. The car manufacturer was the first to introduce digital keys in 2018, allowing drivers to unlock, lock and even start their cars using their smartphones, with no need for a physical key.
Its AI-based in-house technology - AIQX - uses built-in cameras to scan the vehicle on the production line through deep-learning-based computer vision, transforming the quality control process. AIQX enables real-time analysis of images sent to the cloud, where AI detects errors with unprecedented accuracy.
Through technologies such as customer verification, V2X communication and smart grid integration, BMW cars are part of consumers' digital ecosystems. With digital contracts, they no longer have to file for physical paperwork, and access to all BMW digital services is done through a single, unified identity.
"We are systematically digitalizing our customer interfaces, which is massively speeding up our processes, creating transparency, improving quality and helping us make better decisions," Zipse said.
Upcoming: Technology That Sees, Hears and Senses
The next leap in sensor technology is quantum sensing. Image generation systems based on infrared, ultrasound and radar are already in use. But with multisensory systems, BMW vehicles will not only be able to detect potential hazards more accurately but also predict and prevent damage - a capability crucial for automated and autonomous driving systems.
These sensors will allow vehicles to "feel" their surroundings, enabling more refined surface control and the ability to perform complex tasks, such as the automated assembly of intricate components. Predictive maintenance, powered by multisensory input, will serve as an early warning system in production, reducing downtime.
Machine sensitization has other use cases, such as helping people with impaired vision to manage their everyday lives by using AI.
Other Initiatives
BMW's digital transformation extends to future innovations such as artificial general intelligence, which could elevate cars to intelligent systems to accomplish any intellectual task a human can perform. Wireless power transfer for electric vehicles is another technology on BMW's watchlist, especially as it defines itself as an e-mobility pioneer. The company is also exploring the potential of a metaverse in BMW's virtual world - JOYTOPIA, where users can adopt avatars to discover the "ins and outs of future mobility."
But with these digital advancements come ethical concerns and risks. So the company has announced BMW Group Digital Identity - a framework that reiterates its use of ethical AI in compliance with the EU AI Act, focusing on explainability, transparency, privacy, security, fairness and compliance.
