NVIDIA and Mercedes-Benz have deepened their collaboration to build autonomous vehicles. Collectively, they will develop software-defined high-performance computer architecture for self-driving cars by the end of 2024.
Earlier, both the companies came together in 2018 and showcased the Mercedes-Benz User Experience with concept cockpit at Consumer Electronics Show. And now, they want to double down on building software and hardware for autonomous vehicles. Similar to software updates on mobile devices, in future, users would be able to update their self-driving car’s software.
NVIDIA Drive AGX Orin Platform — a processor for autonomous vehicles — will become the foundation for the applications for assisted driving. Future Mercedes-Benz cars can be enhanced over time with new software that will be developed by dedicated professionals continuously.
“NVIDIA is about solving problems that ordinary computers can’t solve, and self-driving is one of the world’s greatest challenges. Some day, driving will be autonomous or assisted, which would require new applications and solutions. We are excited to work with Mercedes-Benz and become the enabler of autonomous vehicles,” said Jensen Huang, co-founder and CEO of NVIDIA.
The idea behind the expansion of the collaboration is to offer an end-to-end product for autonomous driving, which can deliver a superior user experience. Unlike traditional cars, where the vehicle is in its best shape while buying it, Mercedes-Benz’ cars will keep on adding new functionalities with software updates throughout their lifetime.
Ola Kallenius, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and Mercedes-Benz AG, said, “we are delighted to be able to extend our cooperation with NVIDIA. … The 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.”
