BMW Group and Valeo have announced their collaboration for ADAS domain controller, sensors and software for parking and manoeuvring for the BMW’s upcoming platform generation, ‘Neue Klasse.’ Both companies announced their cooperation for the co-development of fully automated parking technologies up to Level 4.
The partnership supports both AVP Type 1 and Type 2 and will strive for the most advanced solutions for next-generation parking experiences up to Level 4 according to market and customer requirements.
Automated Valet Parking (AVP) offers drivers and passengers a fully automated and driverless parking experience. At a drop-off zone, the driver leaves the car, and the vehicle takes over tasks such as autonomously finding a parking spot, the necessary manoeuvres for parking in and out and can also drive back to a pick-up zone to return the vehicle back to the driver.
According to the draft of an upcoming ISO standard, Automated Valet Parking solutions will be clustered into two main categories – Type 1 and Type 2 systems. For a Type 1 system, the necessary technologies (incl. all sensors, computing units and algorithms) run on the vehicle, while for a Type 2 system, the required technologies (incl. sensors and the AVP management system) are installed in the relevant infrastructure, e.g. parking facility, and the vehicle is controlled by the infrastructure.
Valeo noted that the co-development of these automated parking solutions will involve more than 100 R&D specialists from both companies over the duration of the collaboration.
The software functions are based on the current automated parking software stack first launched with the BMW iX in 2021. In the next generation, it will be further extended by a powerful computing platform hosting the jointly developed algorithms.
