BMW Teams up With Innoviz to Bring Solid State LiDAR to Its Future Self-Driving Cars

BMW has been one of the more quiet manufacturers dabbling in autonomy this past year. Despite it looking to deliver a fully self-driving car as early as 2021, the German automaker has been very tightlipped on its autonomous driving program. On Thursday, BMW struck a deal for LiDAR manufacturer Innoviz to provide solid-state scanners for its self-driving program.

Innoviz, an Israel-based company, manufacturers the solid-state LiDAR solution that is believed to be BMW's newest solution for its autonomous driving program. Auto supplier Magna, announced its intent to bundle the Innoviz LiDAR scanners as part of a self-driving solution a package it would resell to BMW. Though BMW hasn't provided details on the partnership, details of the agreement made public by Magna make it seem as if BMW will use the product in a future vehicle. We have reached out to BMW to find out its intentions for the partnership, but have not received a response at the time of writing.

"BMW is setting a high standard in autonomous vehicles development, and their vote of confidence in our LiDAR demonstrates how advanced our technology is," Innoviz's co-founder and CEO said in a press release, "The Innoviz and Magna teams collaborated to meet BMW requirements in quality and validation plans, and functional safety. Automakers have been looking for a LiDAR technology provider to deliver a mass-market solution, and we are proud to see our product coming to series production."

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