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BMW is expanding its collaboration with Israeli LiDAR specialist Innoviz Technologies to accelerate its autonomous driving capabilities aimed at bringing Level 3 to market.

Under the new development agreement, Innoviz will develop these B-Sample sensors based on its second generation InnovizTwo LiDAR sensor. After several years of working together on an existing program, including the first deployment of LiDAR-enabled automated technology on the BMW 7 Series later this year, the pair are beginning to focus on the next-generation of the technology by starting this first B-sample phase.

The result of this first phase should help the automaker decide on a serial development agreement that will focus on bringing a new array of advanced automated capabilities to a broader range of the BMW lineup. The partnership has also started this first phase to develop an expected first-ever LiDAR-based minimal risk maneuver (MRM) system in the future. The MRM acts as a secondary safety driving decision platform that will employ the performance, reliability and resilience of the InnovizTwo LiDAR to manage real-time driving decisions.

Nicolai Martin, senior vice-president of driving experience at BMW, said: “LiDAR is one of the critical technologies underpinning Level 3 or even higher automated functions. Optimizing LiDAR technologies and costs are the major challenges in order to bring Level 3 highly automated driving into the mainstream. We are very pleased to have Innoviz develop the first B-Samples of this new LiDAR generation and hope that the results of the B-Sample phase create a basis for a possible future extension of our collaboration.”

— Paul Myles is a seasoned automotive journalist based in Europe. Follow him on Twitter @Paulmyles_  and Threads