NVIDIA and Mercedes-Benz have announced a new partnership during a live-streamed media event held in both Stuttgart and Silicon Valley on 24 June 2020. Together, both companies aim to develop software-defined vehicles across the latter’s entire fleet, starting in 2024.
Next-generation Mercedes-Benz vehicles will include sophisticated and advanced computing architectures developed by NVIDIA. This would enable Level 2 and 3 driving autonomy, as well as Level 4 parking autonomy – thus eliminating the need for any human-based assistance for these purposes.
The computing system is based on NVIDIA’s DRIVE AGX platform for cars which is capable of “automated driving of regular routes from address to address”, according to the official press release. In addition, both companies also plan to include over-air updates which allows users to buy and remotely install additional safety and convenience features, as well as software applications and subscription services on their Mercedes-Benz vehicle.
“Together, we’re going to revolutionize the car ownership experience, making the vehicle software programmable and continuously upgradeable via over-the-air updates,” said NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang. “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.”
The plan to add advanced autonomous features, sophisticated in-vehicle software, and AI capabilities to the German automaker’s fleet of cars is looking to bring new competition towards automotive brands such as Tesla. Sadly, we’ll only get to see how this joint effort would hold up in four years time or so.
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