BMW has taught cars to drive around the factory without a driver: what does this mean for manufacturing?

Automated driving technology (AFW) at the BMW plant in Leipzig. Source: BMW

The BMW Group is officially launching automated driving within its factories. The project, which started in 2022 at the company's largest European plant in Dingolfing, will move into series production after successful certification. The Leipzig plant is next in line, followed by other BMW production sites.

Here's What We Know

Automated Driving In-Plant (AFW) technology enables the new BMW cars to be driven without a driver. In Dingolfing, they travel more than a kilometre - from the assembly halls through the test track to the final work area. This is ensured by sensors installed along the route, which create Europe's largest LIDAR infrastructure. The data is transmitted via a cloud-based architecture and an external scheduler is responsible for driving.

Automated factory driving (AFW), Dingolfing plant. Photo: BMW

According to Milan Nedeljković, member of BMW AG's Management Board for Production, this approach significantly improves logistics efficiency. The company plans to introduce automated driving in 90 per cent of vehicles at the Leipzig plant, as well as at sites in Regensburg and Oxford, by 2025.

Part of the system was developed by Swiss start-up Embotech AG, which BMW supported in the early stages through the BMW START-UP Garage programme. In the future, the technologia is planned to be adapted for other stages of production: test zones and external logistics areas.

The plant in Debrecen, Hungary, will receive these innovations immediately after the start of series production. Overall, BMW expects to complete millions of test kilometres with AFW technology over the next decade.

Source: BMW