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Mercedes-Benz architects operating system for electric car

Mercedes-Benz announced that it is developing a new operating system targeted for the next generation of electric vehicles of the company known as the MB. OS (Mercedes-Benz Operating System) in 2022. Development begins
Mercedes-Benz architects operating system for electric car
Mercedes-Benz architects operating system for electric car

Mercedes-Benz revealed that the goal is to provide a differentiated product experience to customers and standardize an operating system for all electric vehicles of the brand. The company will allocate 25% of the budget in the Area of Research & Development to improve the software. Currently, the Mercedes-Benz is working with some of the largest technology companies, such as Google, NVIDIA and Luminar.

Mercedes-Benz detailed its plans as the architect of its own operating system MB.OS, which will be introduced mid-decade with the new MMA platform (Mercedes Modular Architecture). MB.OS is designed and developed in-house to retain full control over the customer relationship, ensure data privacy, and to leverage the unique integration of all car functions. Based on a purpose-built chip-to-cloud architecture, MB.OS benefits from full access to all vehicle domains: infotainment, automated driving, body & comfort, driving & charging. This strategic approach allows the world’s most valuable luxury automotive brand to offer its customers a differentiated, superior product experience.

“At Mercedes-Benz, we are dedicated to building the world’s most desirable cars. Accordingly, we made the decision to be the architects of our own operating system – a unique chip-to-cloud architecture that leverages its full access to our vehicles’ hardware- and software components. By combining this in-house expertise with a selection of world-class partners, we will create an outstanding customer experience, from driving assistance, navigation and entertainment, all the way to integrated charging. MB.OS will feature full upgradeability and constant improvements.”

Ola Källenius, Chief Executive Officer, Mercedes-Be

Mercedes-Benz Detailed

  • Building a proprietary system: The Mercedes-Benz Operating System (MB.OS) is a new purpose-built chip-to-cloud architecture that will be central to every future product, delivering exceptional software capabilities and delighting customers with its ease of use
  • Partnering with innovation leaders: New strategic collaboration to give Mercedes-Benz customers embedded access to Google features and maps; further partnerships with key tech players in hardware and software, ensuring efficient development and rapid scaling
  • Elevating infotainment experience: Integrating best-in-class region-specific content spanning music, video, gaming and productivity; vastly superior to smartphone mirroring thanks to full width screen, immersive sound and voice control activation
  • Advancing automated driving: Mercedes-Benz is planning enhanced SAE Level 2 functionalities tailored to urban use cases, offering SAE Level 3 ultimately at speeds of up to 130 km/h; all powered by the NVIDIA DRIVE platform and machine learning
  • Offering flexible upgrades: Fully connectable vehicles will be able to share data and improve rapidly over time via OTA updates; customers will be offered new features via app, web or car
  • Unlocking financial opportunity: Software-enabled revenues to evolve to high single-digit billion EUR figure by end of decade; MB.OS expected to enhance productivity and development speed; software investments within existing financial landscape

Roles of the tech companies on MB.OS

While NVIDIA helps the automaker experience software, data, AI that will power electric vehicles with the Orin chipset, Google will provide features built into the software, such as Google Maps. Luminar will make LiDAR technology available in some of Mercedes-Benz vehicles. Mercedes-Benz is also expected to partner with other companies to improve its infotainment system, such as TikTok, Zoom and game developer Rovio.

“Mercedes-Benz will further expand its infotainment capabilities with new partnerships for leading video, gaming and productivity applications. The MB. OS will open a new game dimension through Antstream for arcade games. On-board video conferencing solutions will be expanded with the addition of popular Webex and Zoom services,” the company said in a statement.

Mercedes-Benz
The new E-Class: the entertainment experience and interior design
The new E-Class: the entertainment experience and interior design
Credits: GTech Booster

MB.OS operating system.

The MB.OS is expected to be launched in the middle of this decade with the automaker’s new car platform, Mercedes Modular Architecture (MMA). As with other electric vehicles, the new system will allow you to add features in over-the-air remote upgrades. However, the company must charge for different packages to have access to some features of the car, for example, the MB.Charge will offer priority access to the brand’s charging stations.

You can also choose MB.Packages. Connect, for entertainment and communication features, and MB. Drive, for access to advanced driver assistance systems. According to Mercedes-Benz, electric vehicle owners will be able to purchase upgrade packages through the company’s mobile app or directly from the car.

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