German car maker BMW has named Lorenz Makeschin as vice president of the BMW Group Technology Office USA in Silicon Valley where he will lead several research and development teams.
He replaces Simon Euringer who has successfully overseen the office for the past three years and will now apply his experience in a new Munich-based management position, developing next-generation systems for voice interaction with vehicles.
The BMW Group Technology Office in Mountain View plays a vital role within the OEM’s R&D network in securing access to new technologies and building collaborative relationships with startups and established companies from beyond the traditional automotive space.
Such efforts have enabled the facility to deliver key solutions and innovations to the global BMW Group, forming the basis for many features found in BMW vehicles on the road today.
After earning his degree in computer engineering, Makeschin joined BMW Group in 2005. Since then, he has built and led several R&D teams from their foundation onward, ranging from connected car topics, to key elements of systems for highly automated driving, to location-based services – endeavors that have taken him from Germany to China and now the United States.