German luxury carmakers BMW and Daimler signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on Thursday on collaboration in the development of autonomous driving systems.

Autonomous driving is currently one of the "most revolutionary trends" at Daimler, said Ola Kaellenius, member of the company's Board of Management responsible for research. One of the aims of this cooperation is to develop a "reliable overall system" instead of "stand-alone solutions."

Both companies are looking to develop a "long-term partnership," added Klaus Froehlich, BMW's chief of engineering.

BMW and Daimler intend to focus on the development of driver assistance systems, automated driving technology and automated parking functions. The technology required for these systems is expected to be "widely available" by around 2025, according to the two carmakers.

The combination of "experience and expertise," as well as the implementation of "scalable architecture" would help the rapid and efficient development of technologies for autonomous driving in the future.

Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer, traffic scientist at the University of Duisburg-Essen, told the German press agency (dpa) that now would be the "time of cooperation" in the German automotive sector. For Germany's largest car manufacturer Volkswagen, "not BMW and Mercedes but Uber and Google" are the biggest competitors when it comes to autonomous driving, said Dudenhoeffer.

Cooperation in autonomous driving will not be the first time the two German car manufacturers work together. Last week, BMW and Daimler had already announced that they would invest more than one billion euros (1.14 billion U.S. dollars) in the development of a joint car-sharing business. Enditem