BMW chief executive officer Harald Krueger has revealed that the company is planning to release its first fully driver-less car by 2021. Krueger shared his visions about the future of driverless cars during BMW's annual shareholder meeting in Munich.

The German automaker is currently focusing most of its resources on electric cars. Krueger noted that the shift to the autonomous vehicle market will be a natural extension of this strategy.

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In a statement, Krueger said, "In 2018, we will launch a BMW i8 Roadster. This will be followed in 2021. By the BMW I Next, our new innovation driver, with autonomous driving, digital connectivity, intelligent lightweight design, a totally new interior and ultimately bringing the next generation of electro-mobility to the road."

BMW's vision of the future is clear - to be on top of the autonomous car market. To achieve this, the company is focusing on vehicle safety and the security of customers' personal data.

Before the recent announcement, there were rumors that BMW's parent company Daimler was in negotiations with tech giant Apple to form a collaborative project to fast track the development of autonomous cars. Daimler allegedly turned down the deal after Apple did not agree with the terms regarding who will own the data received from customers.

Several tech companies like Apple and Google have all established teams to work on autonomous cars. In a bid not to be left behind, traditional car makers are also dipping their toes into it this futuristic area. Car companies like Volvo have plans of testing driverless vehicles in the streets of London by next year. Meanwhile, Toyota recently opened a research facility that will focus mainly on the development of fully autonomous cars.

TagsBMW, Autonomous Cars, Self-Driving Car, BMW autonomous car, BMW self driving car, autonomous car update, self-driving car news, apple, Google