Mercedez-Benz and Nvidia have announced a partnership to create an in-vehicle computing system and AI computing infrastructure, and starting in 2024, the next generation of Mercedez-Benz will come with this system, which will enable them with upgradable automated driving functions.
Jensen Huang, founder, and CEO of NVIDIA said in a Mercedez-Benz press release, “We are excited to work with Mercedes-Benz. It’s the perfect partner for us, given its long record of innovation and our strong technical relationship. It’s clear from our extensive discussions with Ola and his team that we share a common vision of the automobile of the future. Together, we’re going to revolutionize the car ownership experience, making the vehicle software programmable and continuously upgradeable via over the air updates. Every future Mercedes-Benz with the NVIDIA DRIVE system will come with a team of expert AI and software engineers continuously developing, refining, and enhancing the car over its lifetime.”
This new software will be built on Nvidia DriveTM and, according to the press release, will become standard with the next-generation of Mercedez-Benz vehicles. A primary feature of this software will be being able to automate the driving of regular routes from address to address. Also, there will be future safety and convenience applications as well as customers can purchase and add capabilities, software applications, and subscription services through over-the-air software updates during the car’s lifecycle.
Ola Källenius, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and Mercedes-Benz AG said in the same news release, “We are delighted to be able to extend our cooperation with NVIDIA. Jensen and I know one another well and we have spent a great deal of time talking about the goals and potential of next-generation vehicle computing architecture. This new platform will become an efficient, centralized, and software-defined system in our future Mercedes-Benz vehicles. NVIDIA’s AI computing architecture will help us streamline our journey towards autonomous driving. These new capabilities and upgrades will be downloaded from the cloud, improving safety, increasing value, and extending the joy of ownership for all Mercedes-Benz customers.”
The press release also details the specifics of the new software, which includes:
“Automated driving functions in future Mercedes-Benz cars will be powered by NVIDIA’s next-generation DRIVE platform. The computer system-on-chip (SoC), called Orin, is based on the recently announced NVIDIA Ampere supercomputing architecture. The NVIDIA DRIVE platform includes a full system software stack designed for automated driving AI applications. NVIDIA and Mercedes-Benz will jointly develop the AI and automated vehicle applications that include SAE Level 2 and 3 levels, as well as automated parking functions (up to Level 4).”