Five years from now, your BMW will be driving you around, on its own.

The luxury car maker on Thursday announced plans to release an autonomousc car in 2021 called the iNEXT.

"In 2018, we will launch a BMW i8 Roadster," BMW CEO Harald Krüger said during a shareholder meeting in Munich. "This will be followed in 2021 by the BMW iNEXT, our new innovation driver, with autonomous driving, digital connectivity, intelligent lightweight design, a totally new interior and ultimately bringing the next generation of electro-mobility to the road."

Sounds pretty sweet, but that's unfortunately all we know about the thing at this point.

Meanwhile, according to Krüger, drivers are champing at the bit for self-driving vehicles.

"People often ask me, when will we be driving autonomously?" he said. "My answer is: We already can."

A BMW test vehicle, for instance, autonomously completed a lap of the Hockenheimring racetrack in Germany in 2006. Then in 2011, an autonomous BMW drove on the A9 autobahn from Munich towards Nuremberg without any driver intervention. The company also took one step closer to its autonomous ambitions last year with the acquisition of Nokia's HERE mapping service.

However, "it will be a while before these cars reach series maturity — also because the proper legal framework for customers and manufacturers has not yet been decided," Krüger said.

Drivers also shouldn't expect to see an autonomous BMW without a wheel and pedals any time soon. Krüger said BMW will always give drivers the option to operate their car manually, if they choose.

"Sheer driving pleasure also means [having the] freedom to choose," he said. "When do I hand over control? When do I drive myself?"

Aside from autonomous cars, Krüger said enhanced connectivity options and artificial intelligence-powered vehicle technologies are also on the way.