(Bloomberg) -- BMW AG is teaming up with chipmaker IntelCorp. and camera-software company Mobileye NV to bring self-driving cars to the road by 2021, becomingthe first major automaker to set a specific date to produce a fullyautonomous vehicle.

The technology will be used in the iNext, set to supplant the 7-Series sedan as BMW’sflagship model, the company said Friday. The iNext will be abasis for “fleets of fully autonomous vehicles” to cruise highwaysand eventually also be available as robo-taxis in cities, BMW said.The platform will be open for other carmakers and technologycompanies to use.

“Given the players involved, this will likely become theindustry standard,” Arndt Ellinghorst, a London-based analyst forEvercore ISI, wrote in an e-mail. “Today could be transformationalfor individual mobility. Mark your calendar.”

The biggest luxury carmaker setting a date for its self-drivingdebut will put pressure on rivals including Tesla Motors Inc. andMercedes-Benz, as manufacturers strive to fend off competition notonly within the industry but also from the likes of UberTechnologies Inc. and Google. Robo-taxis will make up 40% ofautomotive profits by 2030, more than selling vehicles toindividuals, according to consulting company Roland Berger.

The coalition with Intel and Mobileye is “the next core buildingblock to bring fully automated driving technology to the street,”BMW Chief Executive Officer Harald Krueger said in the statement.The companies didn’t release financial details on thecooperation.

Fatal accident

BMW’s partnership comes as a fatal accident in the U.S. involving a Teslasedan driving on the car’s so-called Autopilot fuels thedebate over whether self-driving cars are ready for the real world.U.S. regulators are investigating the crash, which killed a40-year-old Ohio man when his 2015 Model S drove under thetrailer of an 18-wheeler.

Tesla uses Mobileye’s technology in its Autopilot, which itstarted to introduce in October as a step toward autonomous cars.In the fatal crash, the company said, neither the system nor thedriver saw the white side of the tractor trailer against a brightlylit sky. The equipment in the Tesla that crashed is designed toprevent rear-end collisions, not avoid vehicles crossing laterally,Mobileye said in a statement. Its systems will be able to see andreact to lateral traffic beginning in 2018, the company said.

Stepping-stones

Autopilot is one of a range of technologies meant to bestepping-stones toward completely autonomous vehicles. BMW alreadyoffers a self-parking feature, while Daimler AG’s Mercedes E-Classcan steer itself on the highway — though the driver issupposed to keep his or her hands on the wheel.

Enabling vehicles to navigate without human input throughcomplex settings such as city centers requires them to see andunderstand situations more like humans do. BMW’s deal with Inteland Mobileye brings together companies with expertise in camerasthat can model the driving surroundings and computing capabilitiesto power artificial intelligence.

Related: BMW challenges Uber in U.S. with its ownride-bookig service

Mobileye is already working with General Motors Co., VolkswagenAG and Nissan Motor Co. on mapping technology that gatherscrowd-sourced real-time data from automakers’ fleets ofvehicles.

“Highly autonomous cars and everything they connect to willrequire powerful and reliable electronic brains,” Intel CEO BrianKrzanich said in the statement.

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