BMW takes responsibility for driverless cars

?BMW is the latest car maker to commit to being liable for the safety of future driverless vehicles.

Speaking to Australian media at the global launch of the latest 5-Series in Portugal this week, the project manager for driver assistance systems on the seventh-generation mid-sized sedan, Oliver Poguntke, conceded the German brand "must" take full responsibility for the safety and welfare of occupants in its future autonomous vehicle.

"I think you must [have full liability]. If you change the responsibility from the driver to fully automatic with the car then the mass producer must take liability for this... I think this is a necessary step," he said.

"To change the responsibility, we must also have the laws [that allow autonomous driving]. There is a lot of discussions in the world, and some countries are different to others. We need to have consistency with this."

The new 5-Series is the most advanced car in BMW's line-up when it comes to semi-automated technologies, building on the comprehensive suite of functions first introduced on the flagship 7-Series just over 18 months ago. Like the 7-Series, the mid-sized sedan can steer itself to keep in a lane, maintain a safe distance behind other cars, can virtually drive itself in gridlocked traffic and remotely park itself in tight spaces without any occupants in the car. But it goes a few steps further than the limousine by being able to change lanes automatically after the driver holds down the indicator for more than two seconds and uses GPS locating information to limit the use of its fuel-saving stop-start system only for intersections where the vehicle will come to a stop for a reasonable amount of time.

While it still a way off being a fully driverless vehicle, BMW is racing its key rivals to be among the first manufacturers with an autonomous car.

However, it isn't likely to be the first as Johann Klister, the project manager for the 5-Series, said BMW has committed to introducing its first driverless vehicle in 2021, which could be at least three years behind Audi, which has indicated its next-generation A8 limousine, due to arrive in 2018, will have next-level driverless functionality.

?"We will be working on having an autonomous car in the market by 2021 and therefore it needs a few more steps," Klister said.

"We have to think about the best solution and it [still] needs some time. You have to ask what will happen on a crossroad or a roundabout, so we have to understand this all. It is also a question of structure and regulation.

"It is possible to have autonomous driving in a controlled situation now [like a demonstration or test environment], but in a real situation it is not yet."

Klister admitted the hardware is already in place in the 5-Series, which uses myriad of sensors including a stereo camera and a front-mounted radar with a world-first heater that is designed to prevent the build-up of snow and ice so it can still operate in extreme conditions, but says the foundations of fully autonomous functionality is built on highly-detailed map data which is not yet available.

That information isn't far off though as BMW, Audi and Mercedes-Benz' parent company Daimler formed a joint venture earlier this year to acquire Nokia's mapping data and real-time location services division, dubbed Here.

"It is necessary to have this information for all over the world and that's why are working together to make this [autonomous technology] available," Klister said.

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