BMW has announced the launch of a virtual factory, leveraging Nvidia’s Omniverse platform for building and operating the industrial metaverse.

The automaker said it will use the virtual world to plan, test and optimize new robotics and logistics systems before commercial rollout. The digital tool will be used across its production network, including a planned electric vehicle plant in Debrecen, Hungary, set to begin operations in 2025.

The announcement was made in a keynote at Nvidia’s GTC event. The presentation included a demonstration of how Omniverse allows industries to plan and test factory layouts, robotics implementation, and logistics systems before deployment.

“We are excited and incredibly proud of the progress BMW has made with Omniverse,” said Jensen Huang, Nvidia CEO. “The partnership will continue to push the frontiers of virtual integration and virtual tooling for the next generation of smart-connected factories around the world.”. 

“This is transformative — we can design, build and test completely in a virtual world,” said Milan Nedeljković , BMW board member.

The BMW team is also developing a suite of custom applications with Omniverse, including the application “Factory Explorer,” which offers new factory insight capabilities, including finding, constructing, navigating and analyzing factory data.