A smart company knows when to invest funds — just like BMW, who is reportedly spending a total of $500 million for new and innovative car technologies.
The competition is getting harder now and the fight all boils down to which car has the most advanced features and technologies. This might be the reason why top car maker BMW is shelling out a ton of money to fund research for new innovations.
The BMW Group’s i Ventures division will be handling the fund for new car technologies that will run within the next 10 years. In order to discover advanced innovations, BMW will start supporting startups that deal with autopilot and mapping technologies. The startups may also help BMW make a more efficient and a more advanced version of its current car model to get ahead of its competitors.
“The BMW Group is expanding the successful concept behind its venture capital unit and creating a venture capital fund of up to 500 million euros over ten years,” a BMW official said in a press release. “This will allow BMW i Ventures to make investments in a wider range of areas, such as autonomous driving and digitalisation, and to secure continued access to the technologies of the future,” the official added.
This move was made after Tesla remained one of the top electric vehicle producers in the market today. Jaguar will also be stepping up its EV game. This means, consumers can expect more upgrades and more advanced technologies when it comes to cars in the near future like autonomous driving.
“These days, more and more innovations come from the startup scene,” Peter Schwarzenbauer, a board member from the management of BMW Group said in a statement. “Venturing allows us to tap into this potential at an early stage. To achieve this, we are now giving BMW i Ventures a much broader footing,” Schwarzenbauer added.
BMW is also moving to Silicon Valley, whose headquarters is currently located in New York. With i Venture, BMW will scout potential startups to support in Europe and Asia.
Source: http://www.autoworldnews.com/articles/23964/20161130/bmw-spend-500-million-new-car-technologies.htm
