On August 16, Fiat Chrysler Automobile (FCA) announced that it had signed a memorandum of understanding with BMW, Intel and its newly acquired subsidiary Mobileye, and will join the autonomous driving alliance formed by these companies, becoming the second company to join the alliance after BMW. Automobile manufacturers.

In the statement, FCA stated that members of the alliance can make full use of the advantages, capacities, and resources of other members to strengthen the jointly-developed autopilot platform technology, increase research and development efficiency, and shorten marketing time. In addition to providing engineering and other technical resources and expertise, FCA will also bring its sales performance, coverage and long-term experience in the North American market. In a statement, FCA CEO Malcho said that “companies with the same goals can easily form economies of scale and synergies, and FCA can benefit from joining the alliance.”

Compared with traditional automotive technologies, autonomous driving technology requires extensive research and development and professional software technologies, which in turn require higher capital investment requirements for companies. Many automakers therefore seek alliances to balance the cost of research and development of autonomous driving technology.

In April of this year, Malchone once said that the FCA is looking for an autonomous driving R&D partner. All along, Malchoney is advocating the merger of car companies, and then in the production of high-tech but higher cost models to obtain profits and survive. Prior to joining the alliance, the FCA teamed up with Google’s self-driving company Waymo, which tested with the Chrysler Pacifica hybrid.

In 2016, BMW started cooperation with Intel and Mobileye to develop an autopilot platform. The alliance plans to use 40 BMW vehicles for autopilot testing in the second half of this year. In May of this year, Delphi also announced its participation in the alliance.

It is reported that the alliance plans to mass-produce fully-automated driving and semi-autonomous driving solutions in 2021, which is largely consistent with the time planning of other automakers and technology companies that have independently developed autopilot technology.