BMW has reached the milestone of one million automobiles that have been moved autonomously within its factory facilities, although none of these vehicles have circulated on public roads.
Many new cars are leaving the BMW assembly line driving themselves, without the need for a driver. The BMW Group announced that it has achieved this milestone of one million vehicles operated in this manner.
The system, named Automated Driving In-Plant (AFW), began as a pilot project in 2022 at the facility located in Dingolfing, Germany. It is currently active in four plants located in Europe: Dingolfing, Leipzig, and Regensburg, all in Germany, in addition to the Mini facility in Oxford, United Kingdom.
It is estimated that the system performs approximately 3,500 automated movements daily. The vehicles, whether finished or in different stages of production, are transported between logistics, testing, and assembly sectors.
A notable aspect of AFW is that it does not rely on sensors inherent to the car itself. Instead, LiDAR sensors, which use lasers to measure distances, are installed along the route to monitor the environment. Software then calculates the route and controls acceleration, braking, and steering functions.
Due to this configuration, the system is applicable to any car model, regardless of the specific equipment of each version. According to the automaker, the Dingolfing unit has the largest LiDAR infrastructure in Europe.
AFW operates strictly in predefined areas and was designed to respond to obstacles such as forklifts, people, and other vehicles. The system's availability, as reported by the manufacturer, exceeds 99.5%.
This technology was developed in partnership with the Swiss company Embotech, whose investment division of BMW became a partner in 2024. Raymond Wittmann, Production Director of the BMW Group, stated that this achievement demonstrates the possibility of expanding the system across the company's entire industrial network.
At the Oxford plant, over 53,000 automated movements were recorded last year. At this location, driverless cars began to integrate into the line control systems, allowing AFW to position the vehicle next to an elevator for a specific assembly stage.
The next plant to receive this technology will be the one in Spartanburg, South Carolina, making it the first outside of Europe, scheduled for 2027. BMW's goal is to extend the use of this technology throughout its global production network, which also includes the Araquari (SC) factory.