BMW held an official press conference where they announced that the arrival of the i8 Roadster has been postponed until 2018. The team is also working on a brand new series named the i Next which is going to be fully autonomous or at least close to the claim to offer a driverless experience for the passengers.

The BMW i8 roadster was supposed to have arrived by now. A lot of buyers who love the model and its unique features postponed their purchase to own one. However, it looks like there were some technical difficulties and engineering setbacks that forced the company to delay the launch until 2018. According to the company, it is highly autonomous and is the next generation ‘electro mobility’. While coining terms is an easy job, BMW engineers claimed that they have invested lot of man hours and technology to truly justify these claims.

“In the near future, the goal is to make the i Next the base model from BMW similar to how BMW 7 series exists today. The most contemporary form that individual mobility could get,” said Klaus Frohlich. He is a member of the board of directors at BMW and has inside knowledge on the company’s future plans.

Speaking about the electric capabilities of the car, the executives confirmed their plans to increase the battery power in the i3 series. It is expected to receive a fifty percent boost. The model is expected to arrive before the end of the year. When it does, it will also sport a revamped design with multiple new features integrated into the base model. BMW is looking forward to expand further, not just their ‘i’ series cars. The auto manufacturer has plans to upgrade all plug-in hybrid models with the iPerformance label. There are plenty of new hybrids and fully electric cars coming from the brand in the following months including a plug-in hybrid version of the Mini.

The company’s representatives added that the current situation doesn’t allow them to produce autonomous cars in mass quantities because it has a lot of practical issues to overcome including technology, pricing and customer demand. For now, the new i Next will be in its pilot testing phase and people may have to wait for the next decade for these driverless cars to actually hit the roads.

Meanwhile, companies like Nissan, Ford and Tesla are working on their own electric models which support semi-autonomous technology.