MUNICH, Germany—BMW is planning to invest more than $536 million on new car technologies over the next 10 years via its i Ventures division. The automaker will use the money to back startups working on areas such as autonomous driving and digitalization.
SPARTANBURG, SC—Workers at BMW’s automotive assembly plant here are testing an electromechanical exoskeletal vest designed to reduce muscular strain related to performing overhead work.
SAN LUIS POTOSÍ, Mexico—BMW has begun construction of a new, $1 billion assembly plant here to produce is 3 Series sedan. Scheduled to open in 2019, the plant is expected to employ 1,500 people and have an annual production capacity of up to 150,000 units.
PRETORIA, South Africa—BMW’s assembly plant here is getting some of its power from cow manure. The company has agreed to a 10-year deal to buy as much as 4.4 megawatts of electricity from a biogas power station about 80 kilometers from the assembly plant. Surrounded by land where approximately 30,000 cattle graze, the power station runs off gas emitted by a fetid mixture of dung and organic waste.
MUNICH, Germany—Deep in the mechanized heart of BMW's assembly plant here is a tiny but significant symbol of Australian ingenuity. Amid the 1,200 robots and other automated machinery is a buffing machine dusting car shells with emu feathers.