Does any of you guys know which German company (Audi/BMW/Mercedes) invests the least, or hardly any at all, money in autonomous driving?
@Busty @EnI @Wolfgang or anyone?
I guess it won't be Mercedes-Benz or Audi, so it must be BMW. Or am I hugely mistaking? I'd be thankful for answers and explain later why I'm asking this question.
The R&D for AD is quite complex. Not very linear at all. And not done alone by carmakers themselves.
So it's hard to specify how much of the total R&D money goes exactly to AD R&D. All the public data just show total R&D figure per year or period. But that includes all the R&D areas: new cars, new powertrain & drivetrain tech, new infotainment systems, new safety systems etc etc.
Also, as said by others, suppliers are very much included in that equation - spending their own R&D money on AD, while collaborating closely with carmakers.
Eg.
MB, BMW & Audi bought Nokia's mapping company
HERE - which is essential to AD.
Also eg.
BMW is being very vocal about collaboration with
IBM & Mobileye (which was acquired by IBM in the meantime) & recently
Delphi have joined the team.
Also in April
Daimler & Bosch announced the collaboration on developing AD tech.
While
Audi have been very much tied with
NVIDIA when it comes to AD development.
All three companies have a goal to commercially offer fully automated vehicles in 2020/21.
So I guess they (together with their partners) spend very similar R&D on the AD tech. Perhaps Daimler is a bit more eager to spend more due to very techy-driven commercial vehicles division. Since commercial use of AD is much more promising than personal use of the tech. Self-driving trucks, buses, cargo vans, even taxies ... that's the future. And Daimler's commercial vehicle division is quite a big player (at least in Europe), and so is MB's involvement in taxi business (which will morph into car sharing / ride sharing / mobility services business in the foreseeable future). Same could be said about VW - although they are much more interested in clean drivetrain lately (also due to Dieselgate): mass-volume EVs being their first priority right now.
AD is coming. No doubt about that. Everybody will be there. Sooner or later (later meaning lagging behind 1-3 years). Sure the AD feature will be optional initially. Or standard on some specific vehicles only. Also there will be differentiation regarding levels: some models will come with fully Level 5 AD, some only with Level 3 AD etc. It depends on marketing - to whom do certain models sale to.
Also, some brands / models will offer "mobility units" - very passenger oriented vehicles, where driving & driver involvement will be secondary - so will be the provisional cockpit.
But mind AD - to work well - needs lots of high-performance chips & PUs, much more capable on-board electronic network (to power all that stuff), lots of very precise multi-sensors, superb software (incl. very capable AI machine-learning feature), precise & reliable mapping (incl satellite positioning) , supporting traffic info, intelligent traffic signalization, and most importantly: super speedy mobile internet connection. So, everybody has it share in the development ... incl. telecommunication companies, satellite positioning providers, traffic control operators, states & municipalities (when it comes to installation of intelligent traffic signalization & other traffic management & control systems etc).
So, I wouldn't be worried about any of the biggest three German carmakers when it comes to AD.
But don't rule out US carmakers. They are becoming very formidable players when it comes to AD - being backed & supported by superb US IT industry. They all (in many variations & combinations) collaborate with IT giants like Google / Waymo, Apple, Uber, Lyft etc. Not to mention tons of great start-ups there, and most importantly: the knowledge, skills, know-how in CS field.
And then there's China ... collecting know-how & knowledge from others (also by educating their CS engineers abroad); collaborating with foreign car industry (eg. Baidu & Continental have just announced an AD collaboration); state supporting the tech development with incentive programs etc.
Not sure what's going on with French, Korean & Japanese carmakers (Fiat - as part of FCA is benefiting from US IT). How far are they with AD.
But I'm sure that in 10 years will see quite some fully AD vehicles on the roads. At least in some areas where traffic infrastructure & legislation will allow that. And again: at least Level 5 is much more suitable for commercial than personal use. Mass personal usage will require quite some infrastructure investments & more importantly - a change in mindset. Which usually requires a generation change. New mobility paradigm for a new generation.
but in terms of how they see themselves adapting in future. I have no idea about Mercedes' plans and ideas because I don't read their PR's as much to be honest.
