Report: BMW i doesn’t want to do EVs any more, wants to shift focus to autonomous driving

It seems BMW i’s mission to produce more EVs and hybrids isn’t exactly going well, so BMW i instead will be shifting their focus toward autonomous driving technology, according to Reuters, who heard from BMW’s board member, Klaus Froehlich.

Could this mean the EV and hybrid wars are slowing? You know, because EVs, although great in theory, still have significant practicality hurtles and the environmental benefits aren’t exactly leveraged well with the extra damage done from producing these complex automobiles. In other words, despite hybrids and EVs treating the end-user decently well, in the bigger picture, they do as much damage, if not more to the environment, from their manufacturing process, like mining the precious metals to make the batteries. But this is a more comprehensive discussion for another day.

According to Froehlich, the plan was altered in April in some company meetings and now, Munich is beginning to ramp up efforts to make things happen.

He didn’t say when we could expect any fully- or semi-autonomous BMWs, but he did hint that BMW could be teaming up with Lyft and Uber to provide autonomous ride-hailing programs.

– By: Chris Chin

Source: Reuters

Chris Chin

Chris Chin is the Editor-In-Chief of egmCarTech and is a regular contributor to Automobile Magazine.

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