Mercedes-Benz and NVIDIA to Build Software-Defined Computing Architecture for Automated Driving Across Future Fleet

Mercedes-Benz, one of the largest manufacturers of premiumpassenger cars, and NVIDIA, the global leader in accelerated computing, plan to enter into a cooperation tocreate a revolutionary in-vehicle computing system and AI computing infrastructure.

Starting in 2024, this willbe rolled out across the fleet of next-generation Mercedes-Benz vehicles, enabling them with upgradableautomated driving functions.Working together, the companies plan to develop the most sophisticated and advanced computingarchitecture ever deployed in an automobile.The new software-defined architecture will be built on NVIDIA DRIVETM platform and will be standard inMercedes-Benz’ next-generation fleet, enabling state-of-the-art automated driving functionalities. A primaryfeature will be the ability to automate driving of regular routes from address to address.

In addition, there willbe numerous future safety and convenience applications. Customers will be able to purchase and addcapabilities, software applications and subscription services through over-the-air software updates during thelife of the car.

Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA, said “We are excited to work with Mercedes-Benz. It’s the perfectpartner for us given its long record of innovation and our strong technical relationship. It’s clear from ourextensive 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 softwareprogrammable and continuously upgradeable via over the air updates. Every future Mercedes-Benz with theNVIDIA DRIVE system will come with a team of expert AI and software engineers continuously developing,refining and enhancing the car over its lifetime.”

Ola Källenius, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and Mercedes-Benz AG said “We aredelighted to be able to extend our cooperation with NVIDIA. Jensen and I know one another well and we havespent a great deal of time talking about the goals and potential of next generation vehicle computingarchitecture. This new platform will become an efficient, centralized and software-defined system in ourfuture Mercedes-Benz vehicles. NVIDIA’s AI computing architecture will help us streamline our journeytowards 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.”A new computing architectureAutomated driving functions in future Mercedes-Benz cars will be powered by NVIDIA’s next generationDRIVE platform. The computer system-on-chip (SoC), called Orin, is based on the recently announced NVIDIAAmpere supercomputing architecture. The NVIDIA DRIVE platform includes a full system software stackdesigned for automated driving AI applications. NVIDIA and Mercedes-Benz will jointly develop the AI andautomated vehicle applications that include SAE Level 2 and 3 levels, as well as automated parking functions(up to Level 4).The new system’s state-of-the-art capabilities will be harnessed with a total focus on safety. As thetechnology and regulatory framework develop, it will be possible for every car to be updated over-the-air toenable new automated driving functions. Convenience as well as other safety features will also be available.To develop the new models, both companies will be utilizing NVIDIA DRIVE Infrastructure solutions to enabledata driven development and deep neural network development to handle the requirements of the regionsand operational domains where the cars will be available.