Global Auto Startup Borgward Launches U.S. Headquarters in Silicon Valley & New AI Safety Platform for Autonomous Vehicles

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Sept. 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Borgward Group, a global automotive startup with more than 100,000 cars off the production line since the brand was reborn in 2015 in China, today announced the launch of its new U.S. headquarters and R&D center in Sunnyvale, California. Borgward will also unveil its unique new AI safety and reliability technology for autonomous vehicles tomorrow at the AI Conference presented by O'Reilly and Intel AI in San Francisco.

Borgward's U.S. R&D center is a key milestone in the company's global expansion strategy, which includes selling both traditional and electric vehicles (EVs) across nearly 20 countries in Europe, China, South East Asia, Africa and South America. Borgward launched its most recent BXi7 fully-electric SUV and its GT BX6 SUV in May 2018, and has two new models set to launch in 2019. The company plans to enter the U.S. market in the next three years.

"Our U.S. R&D center provides a crucial gateway for the brand's entry into the North American market in 2021," said Jason Yang, president and CEO, Borgward Group. "This expansion also highlights the speed and scale of our development model in having high-quality, high-value production cars available globally, and leveraging the venerable Borgward brand, which has a rich legacy of safety."

Borgward is also taking a different approach to safety than other EV/AD automakers whose strategies rely mainly on sensors and field testing. By contrast, Borgward's platform will serve as a crucial addition in leveraging AI technology that predicts risky behaviors and integrates learnings back into product development, in order to avoid collisions.

The platform is currently in prototype, with three unique risk features -- automatic honking, advanced risky behavior identification and labeling, and marking of high-risk physical areas – to be incorporated into Borgward production cars within three years. Borgward will also make its platform available to other OEMs, in a long-term effort to create a global industry standard in safety testing for all autonomous cars.

"No autonomous automaker has been able to deliver a safe and reliable product. This is in part because the industry's reliance on real road testing cannot generate enough data to predict human error or other risks at a rate sufficient enough to ensure a reliable response," said Dr. Zhou (Joe) Xing, director of artificial intelligence for autonomous driving, Borgward Group, and the creator of this technology. "Our AI platform aims to solve this problem, not just for Borgward's products, but for the AD industry so that all communities can benefit from safe self-driving cars."

About Borgward Automobile Group
Borgward is a global start-up that designs, develops and produces high-quality, high-value original electric and conventional vehicles that are now being sold in Europe, China, South East Asia, Africa, Middle East and South America. Borgward's 5,440 employees include 2,300 top engineers as well as subsidiaries in China, Germany, Russia, India, Brazil, Mexico and the United States. The Borgward brand has a rich historical legacy when it was first established in 1919 and in its heyday was Germany's third largest car manufacturer. The brand was reborn in 2015 when it was acquired by a leading Chinese OEM. Borgward's innovative development model is focused on flexible and intelligent production, enabling the company to dramatically scale and compete on the global stage. For more information see www.borgward.com.cn or www.borgward.com.

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/borgward.de/
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For further information, please contact:

Borgward
Monica Jia, Head of U.S. Public Relations
[email protected]

Ruder Finn U.S.
Molly Palm, PR Agency Lead
[email protected]

SOURCE Borgward Group

Related Links

http://www.borgward.com