BMW Group has partnered with chip manufacturer Intel and IT company Mobileye to develop self-driving vehicles and future mobility concepts.

The trio intend to bring fully autonomous vehicles out by 2021.

The companies agreed to a set of deliverables and milestones to deliver fully autonomous cars based on a common reference architecture. Near term, the companies will demonstrate an autonomous test drive with a highly automated driving (HAD) prototype.

In 2017 the platform will extend to fleets with extended autonomous test drives.

The three companies said they were convinced that automated driving technologies will make travel safer and easier in a joint statement. The three said: "The goal of the collaboration is to develop future-proofed solutions that enable the drivers to not only take their hands off the steering wheel, but reach the so called "eyes off" (level 3) and ultimately the "mind off" (level 4) level transforming the driver’s in-car time into leisure or work time.

"This level of autonomy would enable the vehicle, on a technical level, to achieve the final stage of traveling "driver off" (level 5) without a human driver inside."

Harald Krüger, chairman of the board of management of BMW AG, said: "Following our investment in high definition live map technology at ‘Here’, the combined expertise of Intel, Mobileye and the BMW Group will deliver the next core building block to bring fully automated driving technology to the street"