New BMWs And Minis Are Driving Themselves Off The Assembly Line

New BMW and Mini models are rolling off the assembly lines without human drivers behind the wheel. The BMW Group is expanding its Automated Driving In-Plant system to more factories in Europe. Thousands of brand-new BMWs are rolling off the assembly lines every day without a driver behind the wheel.

That’s because the German luxury automaker has fully implemented an autonomous driving system that allows finished vehicles to drive themselves on a predefined course inside the factory.

The system, called Automated Driving In-Plant (AFW), debuted as a pilot program in 2022 at BMW’s largest European factory in Dingolfing. Now, however, the system has evolved and is ready for series production duty, according to the German carmaker.

Initially, the autonomous driving setup was used on the latest generation i5 and i7 electric sedans assembled in Dingolfing, but now that the system is ready for prime time, other BMW models, as well as the new Mini Countryman, will be ferried around the factory without a driver behind the wheel.

In addition to the Dingolfing factory, the company is implementing the system at its Leipzig factory where around 90% of the models assembled will be driven autonomously off the assembly line. After Leipzig, the Regensburg plant in Germany and the Oxford factory in the United Kingdom will also get AFW next year. The new Hungarian factory in Debrecen that will build the next-generation iX3 electric crossover is next in line to get the self-driving tech.

At the main Dingolfing site, freshly assembled cars drive without anyone behind the steering wheel along a route of more than 0.62 miles (1 kilometer). The cars begin their autonomous drive from the two assembly halls, go through a “short test course” and arrive at the finishing area inside the same facility.

“Over the next ten years, we will log several million test kilometers with Automated Driving In-Plant in our production network alone,” said  Milan Nedeljković, member of the Board of Management of BMW AG responsible for Production. “In this way, the BMW Group is once again setting a new benchmark for automation and digitalization of its production processes – while paving the way for future applications in the field of autonomous driving.”

The Automated Driving In-Plant system uses a series of sensors installed along the route and relies on an externally generated environment model, as well as an external movement planner. BMW says the system is the largest Lidar infrastructure in Europe and that the next step is to introduce it to other areas of production, like driving through more testing zones and outdoor distribution areas.