IDEALworks' Smart Transport Robot

Automotive giant BMW has expanded into the logistics sector through a new subsidiary, IDEALworks. The aim is to become a leading supplier of autonomous robotics solutions in the logistics sector.

"In founding IDEALworks, we are creating a new business segment for our logistics solutions," says Milanese Nedeljkovic, the member of the board of management of BMW AG responsible for production. "In recent years, our logistics innovation team has been working in depth on the digitalisation and automatisation of production logistics and has developed some unique solutions. The Smart Transport Robot (STR), in particular, has met with great response and has seen demand from both within and outside of the BMW Group.

"Founding IDEALworks GmbH is now the logical next step for the BMW Group as a driver of innovation."

Jimmy Nassif, CTO IDEALworks, describes the move into logistics as "completely new terrain".

"Up until now, our development has focused on automotive production and its logistics. Our perspective is changing now. We are becoming a provider of logistics robotics beyond the automotive industry. We are preparing some innovations for the coming months."

The new company is located in Munich and, in its initial phase, the team consists of around 30 experts from a wide range of fields and nationalities.