June 3, 2016—BMW announced that it will use its “i” electric car division to focus on the development of autonomous vehicle technology, according to a report from Reuters.
While the “i” division was formerly focused on the development of electric cars, BMW has refocused the division’s efforts on autonomous cars after cars such as the i3 did not fare as well in the marketplace as BMW hoped.
While BMW’s rivals in the electric car segment—Tesla, Porsche and Audi—are all working on electric cars due before 2019, BMW will not debut another fully electric car until 2021.
The BMW board member in charge of development, Klaus Froehlich, said the “i” division relaunched as a unit devoted to producing autonomous cars.
BMW could also incorporate its future autonomous vehicles into a ride-hailing application after the company announced last week its investment in a carpooling app, “Scoop.”
