BMW Deploys Automated Vehicle Marshaling to Move Driverless Cars From its FactoriesBMW Deploys Automated Vehicle Marshaling to Move Driverless Cars From its Factories
BMW factories don’t need human drivers to move finished cars from the assembly line to their inspection point.

At a Glance
- BMW is using lidar units mounted in its factories to guide self-driving cars from the assembly line.
- The company partnered with Embotech AG which in turn relied on collaboration with Outsight and Hesai to create the system.
- With this system, human drivers do not need to be shuttled from the car's destinations back to the assembly line.
While automotive assembly lines have become thoroughly automated, what happens when the finished car reaches the end of the line? Previously, human drivers have climbed behind the wheel to pilot the new cars from the factory floor to a test track or final inspection point.
This is a labor-intensive step of production, not only because humans have to drive the cars to their next destination in the process, but because having delivered them there, the humans are now stranded and have to be shuttled back to the assembly line to get into the next car rolling off the line.
BMW is automating this process with the help of Embotech, Outsight, and Hesai by installing a lidar infrastructure in its plants that provide the cars with the sensory data they need to safely drive themselves. This started with a pilot project at BMW’s Dingolfing, Germany plant in 2022 and is now moving into production at other plants, starting with the factory in Leipzig, with other factories to follow. BMW calls this Automated Driving In-Plant (AFW).
The first vehicles to drive themselves through BMW’s plants were the 5 Series and 7 Series cars built at Dingolfing, and those have been followed by the Mini Countryman and other BMW models in Leipzig. In addition to the BMW 5 Series and 7 Series in Dingolfing, this technology is now also being used for the MINI Countryman and other BMW models in Leipzig. The AFW system can control these vehicles’ movements no matter the specific optional equipment installed using BMW’s cloud architecture.
“Automated Driving In-Plant optimizes our production process and delivers significant efficiency gains for our logistics,” explains Milan Nedeljković, member of the Board of Management of BMW AG responsible for production. “That is why we will be swiftly rolling out this technology throughout our production network.”

Driverless cars roll off the assembly line. BMW
The company says that it can employ automated driving for around 90 percent of the BMW and MINI models in Leipzig and it plans to add the Regensburg, Germany and Oxford, UK plants later this year. When it opens, BMW’s new factory in Debrecen, Hungary will join them.
The AFW system can do even more in the future when BMW plans to expand it to tasks such as driving the newly assembled cars through the testing zone and in outdoor distribution areas. As the cars gain more on-board sensors for driver assistance systems, they will be able to contribute to the AFW system’s capability by supplementing the situational awareness of the current external lidar sensors mounted throughout the factory.

This lidar unit watches from the wall as the car drives through the factory. BMW
“Over the next ten years, we will log several million test kilometers with Automated Driving In-Plant in our production network alone,” says Nedeljković. “In this way, the BMW Group is once again setting a new benchmark for automation and digitalization of its production processes – while paving the way for future applications in the field of autonomous driving.”
The AFW system was built in partnership with Embotech AG, which in turn relied on collaboration with Outsight and Hesai for the lidar-based vehicle guidance system.

This Mini Countryman drives itself from the assembly line. BMW
Outsight contributes the advanced lidar software platform that tracks the vehicle and the surrounding obstacles within BMW's production facilities. Hesai provides the actual lidar sensors that let the computer see where the cars are going.
"The combination of Outsight's sophisticated lidar software platform and Hesai's reliable lidar sensors perfectly complements Embotech's autonomous driving expertise," said Alexander Domahidi, CTO and founder of Embotech. "This collaboration ensures the highest standards of safety and efficiency in BMW's automated vehicle operations."
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