BMW to launch self-driving car in 2021 with top-notch, Level 5 autonomous capabilities

The autonomous car space is getting a bit crowded these days. Not with actual cars, but continued promises from renewed and new partnerships between companies involved in the self-driving car space. Now BMW, who is quite ahead in the electric and hybrid car segment, has announced that it too is pursuing a self-driving car, but unlike the rest its car will raise autonomous driving standards up a notch, by tapping into level 5 autonomy. Reuters reported that the German car maker is on track to ready its fully autonomous self-driving car by 2021. The company’s SVP for Autonomous Driving, Elmar Frickenstein told the publication that it will deliver a car in 2021 that will work with level 3, level 4 and even level 5 autonomy. While most outgoing vehicles are stuck at level 2 and 3, the goal for those pursuing a self-driving vehicle is currently set at level 4, one that requires some level of human input and also means that vehicle cannot drive itself in all driving conditions or scenarios. [caption id=“attachment_336547” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”]  BMW Pininfarina Gran Lusso concept[/caption] Level 5 takes things up a notch by delivering a vehicle that capable of navigating roads without any driver input whatsoever. It also means that the car will and can take decisions in any driving condition, or the equivalent of a human driver at the driving seat. Indeed, the news does not come as a surprise as the company recently announced that it had teamed up with Israeli self-driving technology company Mobileye to collect high definition map data for self-driving cars. Mobileye just last week was acquired by chipmaker major, Intel for $15.3 billion.