BMW looks to AI to secure future
07 Mar 2016
BMW is betting on AI to secure its future, where competitors would not Cadillac or Audi, but Uber and car-price comparison site TrueCar, according, Reuters.
"Our task is to preserve our business model without surrendering it to an internet player," BMW's Klaus Froehlich said. "Otherwise we will end up as the Foxconn of the auto world for a company like Apple, delivering only the metal bodies for them.
"For me it is a core competence to have the most intelligent car," he said.
This meant hiring was an integral part of the thrust.
BMW wanted to get its software engineer count up to a 50:50 spread as against its other employees and because schools in Deutschland were not producing enough viable candidates, the company had to look at outward partnerships to fill the gaps.
These included working with cloud computing and storage outfits to help drive its autonomous vehicle initiative.
