For more than a decade, startups and the BMW Group have been turning bold ideas into real-world impact. What begins with a promising technology can evolve into scalable solutions that transform products, processes, and customer experiences. Explore the stories behind these collaborations and discover how shared ambition, entrepreneurial spirit, and industry expertise are shaping the future together.
Every innovation has a story.
Discover ours.
Success Stories
How Startups
Create Impact.
Varjo.
Real machine. Real motion. Virtual world.
In 2023, the BMW Group teamed up with Varjo to bring mixed reality to high-performance driving. Together, they developed BMW M Mixed Reality, a concept combining real BMW M vehicles with ultra-high-fidelity VR/XR environments.
By merging physical driving dynamics with immersive virtual worlds, drivers can experience racetracks and challenges that would be impossible in reality.
Today, BMW M Mixed Reality showcases how real vehicles and virtual experiences can seamlessly interact, pushing the boundaries of driving innovation.
DeepDrive.
More range, more efficiency, more fun.
In 2023, the BMW Group partnered with DeepDrive to test a next-generation dual-rotor electric motor. Designed for high efficiency and power density, the system promises extended range with reduced energy consumption.
Following successful dynamometer validation, the technology moved from rig testing into real BMW test vehicles
Today, road tests are advancing the path toward series integration and redefining electric performance.
AirConsole.
Park. Pair. Play.
In October 2022, the BMW Group teamed up with AirConsole to bring their gaming platform into BMW vehicles. By 2023, in-car gaming had launched on the Curved Display of the BMW 5 Series.
Drivers and passengers can connect their smartphones as controllers and start playing instantly, with a whole library of games to choose from, including the world-famous UNO® Car Party! and Hot Wheels: Xtreme Overdive ™️.
Today, in-car gaming is available in models equipped with BMW Operating System 8.5 or higher, bringing entertainment directly to the dashboard.
Seoul Robotics & Embotech.
Driverless in production? Absolutely! Inside the plant.
The BMW Group partnered with Seoul Robotics and Embotech to realize Automated Driving In-Plant (AFW).
At BMW production sites, newly built vehicles navigate assembly and logistics areas autonomously, without a driver behind the wheel. The system increases safety, reduces complexity, and improves operational efficiency.
Today, driverless vehicle movement is becoming an integral part of BMW’s production innovation.
Voiceflow.
Talk is cheap – unless you can prototype it in days.
In 2022, the BMW Group began collaborating with Voiceflow to accelerate conversational AI development.
Using Voiceflow’s collaborative design platform, BMW teams can prototype, test, and refine complex voice interactions for the BMW Intelligent Personal Assistant in a fraction of the usual time.
Today, voice concepts move from idea to validated interaction flows up to twice as fast, enhancing the in-car user experience at scale.
Hero Stories
Meet the Innovators
Within the BMW Group.
Insights on LLMs & AI Innovation.
LLMs are cool. Making them useful is even better.
BMW Group experts Lukas Stappen and Thiemo Fieger share how large language models move from promising ideas to real-world impact.
In collaboration with startups and supported by the BMW Group Startup Garage, they explore how AI solutions can be tested, refined, and integrated into real business environments.
Their insights highlight what it takes to turn emerging AI technologies into practical applications, and how collaboration helps accelerate the journey from innovation to impact.
Digitalizing Production With Startup Partners.
Digital twins, smarter workflows, faster change.
Christopher Sevilla, responsible for factory digitalization at the BMW Group, shares how building digital twins of century-old production sites requires entirely new technologies and approaches. From fragmented legacy data to constantly evolving factory layouts, startups play a critical role in making digital factories possible.
Through collaboration with startups, BMW teams can integrate emerging technologies faster and continuously evolve production systems, turning the vision of the “perfect machine” into reality.
AI in Robotics & Startup Collaboration.
AI-driven robotics: driving efficiency in manufacturing.
Smarter robots don’t just move. They think.
Bjarne Lenzig and Firas Zoghlami from the BMW Group share how AI is giving robots the ability to plan, decide, and act autonomously in logistics and manufacturing. Their work focuses on automating manual handling tasks and bringing intelligent robotics onto the shop floor.
By partnering with fast-moving AI robotics startups and leveraging the BMW Startup Garage, teams can quickly discover, test, and scale cutting-edge automation, bringing the next generation of industrial intelligence into production.
Now it's your turn
Create your own success story.
We work with startups that show a strong strategic fit, technical readiness and an open collaborative mindset. Together we build solutions that create measurable impact within the BMW Group.
