Stellantis Partners Up With BMW To Develop Autonomous Tech

The Stellantis group recently held the ‘EV Day’ followed with ‘Software Day’ to unveil its future plans

• Stellantis is developing three tech platforms to be integrated with its four electric vehicle platforms.

• BMW will work on STLA AutoDrive, one of the tech platforms.

• Stellantis plans to ready all three tech platforms by 2024.

During the recently conducted ‘Software Day’, Stellantis entered into a collaboration with BMW to develop autonomous tech for its cars. The two will co-develop STLA AutoDrive, which will have Level 2, Level 2+, and Level 3 autonomous driving capabilities.

Earlier this year, Stellantis revealed its ambitious electrification plans, including the development of four electric platforms: STLA Small, STLA Medium, STLA Large, and STLA Frame. These will underpin future electric models from Stellantis. The company  is also developing three tech platforms: STLA Brain, STLA Smart Cockpit, and STLA AutoDrive, and these will be integrated with the aforementioned vehicle platforms. All these platforms are expected to be functional by 2024.

Stellantis has partnered up with BMW to work on STLA Auto Drive, which will focus on the two companies’ autonomous driving capabilities. 

STLA Brain, as the name suggests, will be the ‘brain’ of the vehicle. It will essentially be the car’s ECU, connected to the cloud with high-speed internet. It will allow for seamless OTA (over-the-air) updates to the vehicle while doing away with hardware updates. 

Lastly, the STLA SmartCockpit platform will be about the user experience inside the cabin and how occupants interact with onboard technology. 

Stellantis is expected to merge e-commerce, navigation, and other in-cabin features into this one package, and to that end, it plans to invest over €30 billion (Rs 2.56 lakh crore) by 2025.