In September 2017, you and your team moved to the Autonomous
Driving Campus in Unterschleissheim.
What prompted the BMW
Group’s decision to create this new site?
We are
currently experiencing the largest paradigm shift in the history of
the automotive industry. The industry is set to witness more change in
the next decade than in the past 30 years. Today, we are already on
the brink of highly automated driving. There are many challenges to
overcome as we progress towards highly and fully automated driving,
the biggest of which is surely to handle the overall complexity of the
task. To succeed, we must have the courage to change our way of
thinking. And this is exactly what we have done. Having the Campus as
a central site where all of the BMW Group’s autonomous driving
resources are bundled forms a fundamental element of our all-embracing
approach. Here, we work closely interconnected also with our
technology and collaboration partners on the development of the
necessary technical solutions. For example, software developers can
immediately test out code they have just written – in the actual
vehicle and in just a few steps. Everything is done on a common code
base. The Campus with all its facilities was completed in record time;
we moved in just one year after receiving the go-ahead.
After the first 450 days there, what changes do you feel
working together at the Campus has brought about?
At
the same time as moving to the Campus last year, we adopted an agile
working method known as LeSS – Large Scale Scrum. And we aligned the
organisational structure to the new working environment. Working in
feature teams with end-to-end responsibility, our employees at the
Campus produce valid results in two-week sprints that they can test
out and experience in the actual vehicle. It’s incredible to see just
how much this new way of working together motivates the developers.
The remarkable spirit I can sense here on a daily basis is another
thing that reminds me of Silicon Valley.
That is why I
personally see the Autonomous Driving Campus as symbolising the dawn
of a new era in mobility. I’ve been at BMW for 30 years and have both
witnessed and played an active part in many changes. But when I moved
to my new workplace at the Campus on September 18th 2017,
I was in no doubt that a new chapter in the BMW Group story was
beginning here. The Campus is different, new, innovative and quite
unique in the automotive industry. We need to embrace change in this
way if we want to master the complexity of autonomous driving; the
development of new technologies calls for new approaches.
What do you like most about the new working
method?
The agile working method is based, among other
things, on the principle of ongoing improvements for both products and
methods. For example, the teams convene for a ‘sprint review’ at the
end of each sprint. They present their results to all the employees in
a kind of marketplace. This means that when they plan the next sprint
afterwards, consideration can also be given to issues arising at short
notice as a top priority. Then there is the ‘retrospective’, when the
teams share observations from the last sprint and work together to
identify measures for improvements in the next sprint. The beauty of
it all is that these regular exchanges put the developers in a
position where they can make decisions themselves, which is crucial
not only for product advancement, but for this style of teamwork as
well. Hierarchical delegation becomes a thing of the past as a result,
while knowledge is scaled to maximum effect and made available to
everyone. That’s how you develop for the future.
What are the next development steps towards autonomous driving
at the BMW Group?
With the Campus, the switch to the
LeSS working method and our organisational structure, we have created
a solid basis for mastering the complexity of the task. This enables
us to establish new key technologies such as artificial intelligence
and simulation as the focus of development. We are also gradually
expanding our fleet of vehicles. Currently we have 80 vehicles
operating in Europe, the USA and China. The aim with these measures is
to validate our highly and fully automated driving technology and to
carry out the transition from demonstrator development to production development.
How will customers benefit?
In 2021, we will be
offering customers a perfected system in the BMW iNEXT that adds
noticeable value to the vehicle experience. Highly and fully automated
driving will give our customers back one of the most precious
commodities of all: time. The optional “Highway Pilot” will allow
customers to drive on the motorway from Munich to Hamburg, for
example, at speeds of up to 130 km/h (81 mph) and spend the time doing
other things, such as reading a newspaper or just enjoying the
landscape. We will also be operating pilot fleets with Level 4
technology based on the BMW iNEXT in selected regions. Our motto is
always “safety first”. With the right technology, the right technology
partners and an agile working model, automated driving will make our
roads safer for everyone. Our Campus creates the basis for
customer-centric development. Thanks to the unique spirit instilled by
the Campus, we are changing the face of personal mobility for our
customers and giving them back valuable time.
Finally, if you had to describe the Campus with three
hashtags, what would they be?
#EmbracingChange #Transformation #GermanSiliconValley