First software-defined vehicle will be reliable, BMW pledges

BMW has pledged that its first software-defined vehicle, the new BMW iX3, won’t suffer from the software issues that have hampered rival firms.

The electric SUV, revealed at the recent Munich motor show, sits on a new EV platform and features a new computing architecture built around four ‘supercomputer’ chips that run all of the vehicle's key functions. 

BMW has developed the entire software stack for the system in-house.

While rivals such as Volvo and the Volkswagen Group have struggled with their efforts to develop software-defined vehicles, BMW’s Neue Klasse chief, Mike Reichelt, is confident his firm will avoid bugs and issues.

“For us it was really important [to develop the software stack in-house],” said Reichelt. “It’s like the transformation from the combustion engine to electric mobility: the biggest step is when you reach this change in the middle of the company. 

“Every engineer at BMW is dealing with this new technology. Every function in the car has a hardware part and a software part, so we speak about function and owner and not about the hardware side or software side.

"Every engineer has to go into the digital world; that’s the transformation. 

“For me, it’s a failure when you believe you can take digital development outside the company or to another part of the company and the rest makes cars like it has for the last 20 years. So we changed it.

"For example, in our Driving Experience department, half of the engineers work in electrics or electronics, and it’s a little bit more every month.”