- The use of artificial intelligence has allowed BMW to accelerate development times.
- A slew of important new models will add to BMW’s Neue Klasse family.
In the past few years, Chinese car manufacturers have set new standards not just with in-car technologies and advanced powertrains, but also the speed with which they can launch new models. However, according to BMW development director Joachim Post, the German automaker has now reached a point where it can develop and launch new models even more quickly than the Chinese.
The brand’s Neue Klasse transformation is well underway. Not only is this new era bringing with it a radically different design philosophy, but newly launched EVs have a new platform, better motors, and more advanced batteries. As part of its overhaul, BMW is promising to release 40 new models and updates in the next two years.
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“Who can do that?,” Post asked while speaking with Handelsblatt. “Our colleagues in China can’t do that either. A single car can always be developed quite quickly. But that wasn’t the approach with the iX3 and the New Class. We have invested a lot of time and energy here to enable a major technology boost for the entire model range. Because we will only be successful if we integrate the technologies now developed into the entire model range.”
Post added that “we can now bring cars onto the market the way you bake pretzels, as they say in Bavaria. Nobody will imitate us so quickly what we plan to do in the next two years. And that’s why I say, what we’re doing now is more than China Speed.”
Earlier this month, Audi said it was going “China speed” with the next-generation TT, announcing that it will hit the market just 30 months after being signed off. Evidently, the Germans understand that they have to speed up the development times of new models.
According to Post, one of the reasons BMW will be able to launch more models faster than ever before is because of AI. He noted that the tech “helps us massively,” particularly when it comes to coding and software development. He noted that tasks that used to take a whole day can now be completed in minutes using artificial intelligence.
Moving forward, development times could be slashed further. Post noted that, previously, when someone, like an engineer, left the company they took with them their knowledge. Now, BMW can train an AI model to retain this knowledge and, more importantly, not let it benefit one of its competitors.
