New partnership will speed up development of autonomous vehicle technologies.

The BMW Group, Intel and Mobileye have signed a memorandum of understanding with the intention for FIAT Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) to be the first automaker to join them in developing an autonomous driving platform for global deployment.

The partners intend to leverage each other’s strengths, capabilities and resources to enhance the platform’s technology, increase development efficiency and reduce time to market.

“In order to advance autonomous driving technology, it is vital to form partnerships among automakers, technology providers and suppliers,” said FCA Chief Executive Officer Sergio Marchionne. “Joining this cooperation will enable FCA to directly benefit from the synergies and economies of scale that are possible when companies come together with a common vision and objective.”

The partners plan to deploy 40 autonomous test vehicles on the road by 2017 year-end.

“The two factors that remain key to the success of the cooperation are uncompromising excellence in development and the scalability of our autonomous driving platform,” said Harald Krüger, Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG. “With FCA as our new partner, we reinforce our path to successfully create the most relevant state-of-the-art, cross-OEM Level 3-5 solution on a global scale.”