BMW Group has named Spaniard Bernardo Lopez as head of the group’s technology office in Palo Alto, California. He reports to Raymond Freymann, managing director of the group’s research and technology operation, and succeeds Joachim Stilla, who is transferring to company headquarters in Munich, Germany.
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Prior to this position, Lopez was head of information technology for the development of electronics in the research and development division in Munich. His extensive engineering experience includes work in simulation methods, project management and advanced powertrain engineering, especially in the field of electronics.
Located in the heart of California’s ‘Silicon Valley’, the BMW group technology office was founded in 1998 to identify and investigate leading-edge technologies in non-automotive fields that BMW Group can make available to its customers. Working closely with the group research and innovation centre (FIZ) in Munich, new technologies are identified and pursued at an early stage, with an eye toward their viability as future business propositions. Areas of technological interest currently being explored include sensors, actuators, smart materials, and human/machine interaction. There is also emphasis on vehicle information and communication technology.
While most of the work of the technology office will be seen in future group vehicles, products such as the miniature head-up display in the sunglasses of the BMW racing team used in the America’s Cup and the iDrive controller in the current 7-series are already well-known examples of its work.
The technology office also developed the iPod adapter that enabled the world’s first integration of iPod and car audio systems.
Along with the BMW group engineering and emissions test centre in Oxnard and DesignworksUSA in Newbury Park, the technology office in Palo Alto forms the so-called ‘BMW Group California Innovation Triangle (CIT)’.
