BMW Says Daimler Isn't Part of Self-Driving Collaboration With Tencent
July 22 2019 - 7:07AM
Dow Jones News
By Max Bernhard
BMW AG (BMW.XE) said its partner Daimler AG (DAI.XE) isn't part
of its collaboration with Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings Ltd.
(0700.HK) for a computing platform to develop self-driving cars in
China.
"Daimler isn't part of the partnership to build the platform in
China," a BMW spokesman said late Friday. However, the future use
of the platform as part of BMW's cooperation with Daimler on
autonomous driving development can't be ruled out, the spokesman
said.
BMW and its former competitor Daimler teamed up earlier this
year to develop self-driving cars, after having already merged
their car sharing and ride-hailing services.
Under the deal announced last week, Tencent--which is behind the
popular instant messenger apps QQ and WeChat and also develops
games--will provide IT infrastructure and an analytics platform for
data processing. A BMW spokeswoman said last week that an exchange
of ideas, for example in the field of simulation for self-driving
technology, is also possible. However, "intellectual property for
automated driving is not included in the partnership," she
added.
The moves come as car makers increasingly seek out partnerships
to stem the heavy investments of developing new technologies and to
fend of competition from tech companies such as Alphabet Inc.'s
(GOOG) Google, Apple Inc. (AAPL) and Uber Technologies Inc.
(UBER).
BMW said the platform it is developing with Tencent will only
process data from its Chinese self-driving test fleet but no
personal or customer data. It previously said that both partners
"will comply strictly with Chinese laws and regulations on data
security, prevent data-security risks and ensure data compliance
using Tencent's security expertise."
Write to Max Bernhard at max.bernhard@dowjones.com;
@mxbernhard
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 22, 2019 06:52 ET (10:52 GMT)
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