Through this collaboration, the BMW Group is leveraging Ansys' capabilities to become one of the first automakers to offer Level 3 (L3) highly automated driving to consumers. The partnership is key to improving the reliability of ADAS and autonomous vehicle (AV) systems and significantly accelerating time to market.

Driverless technologies are complex systems that pose numerous challenges for car manufacturers. These include creating and maintaining maps, mimicking human interactions, coping with weather conditions and design specifications, and managing cyber security. To achieve L3 capabilities, automakers need to create a detailed security report based on data from well-defined tests conducted over millions of miles to understand how their AV systems will behave.

The BMW Group will use Ansys software solutions as part of its toolchain that defines test plans, controls their execution and collects and processes data-critical system information. Ansys software capabilities will enable engineers to achieve robust design optimization and faster orchestration of simulated workflows. Using specific algorithms, the software efficiently and automatically searches for the most robust design configuration. This allows critical decisions to be made early in the design process, reducing development time and overall costs.

Together with the BMW Group, Ansys is addressing specific industry challenges and developing scalable solutions to overcome them. The partnership will enable more informed decisions to be made in the development of Ansys software, ultimately benefiting OEMs and other Ansys customers. Ansys can experience first-hand how the BMW Group addresses key design and safety challenges with real-time physical and simulated data.

"Autonomous driving is one of the biggest challenges facing the automotive industry," says Prith Banerjee, Chief Technology Officer at Ansys. "It will only be achievable with state-of-the-art software solutions that are cloud-native, scalable, suitable for large amounts of data, open and extensible. The automated toolchain leverages real-time driving data sets and the scalability of Ansys' simulation solutions to improve the accuracy and reliability of AV applications and remove perceived cost barriers to their development."

"Achieving Level 3 autonomy is a key differentiator for us and an opportunity to demonstrate our high level of technical innovation in this area," said Nicolai Martin, Senior Vice President, Driving Experience at BMW Group. "We are constantly looking for more comfort, more intelligence and more convenience to provide our customers with the safest and most enjoyable driving experience possible. To support us in this, we chose Ansys as a partner because of its strong simulation background in various fields, as well as its engineering know-how and experience with statistics and scenario analysis in the autonomous environment."