Mercedes-Benz and Nvidia Partner On Software-Defined Autonomous Cars

ZDNet reports:
Car manufacturer Mercedes-Benz and chipmaker Nvidia have partnered to build a software-defined computing infrastructure and system that enables vehicles to receive over-the-air software updates to ensure they are equipped with the latest autonomous features. “Together, we’re going to revolutionise the car ownership experience, making the vehicle software programmable and continuously upgradeable via over the air updates,” Nvidia CEO and founder Jensen Huang said. The pair will build the software-defined architecture based on Nvidia’s Drive AGX Orin system-on-chip (SoC) platform, and it will be a standard feature in the next fleet of Mercedes-Benz vehicles from 2024… “Nvidia’s AI computing architecture will help us streamline our journey towards autonomous driving,” said Ola Källenius, chairman of the board of management of Daimler and Mercedes-Benz. “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 pair said the new system would enable level two and three driving autonomy, as well as automated parking functions of up to level four. This would mean, according to the two companies, vehicles would have the ability to “automate driving of regular routes from address to address”. Barron’s reports:
Nvidia and Mercedes are, in some respects, playing catch-up. Something the rest auto industry is used to these days regarding Tesla. Almost every other auto maker around the globe is pursuing an Electrical Vehicle (EV)-centric strategy nowadays, something unthinkable a few years ago. Tesla CEO Elon Musk deserves a lot of credit for the shift. Tesla led in EV development, and now it’s leading in software too… And Forbes adds this telling quote from NVIDIA’s senior director of automotive. “Revenues can be realized at the point of sale, as well as any time during the life of the vehicle. New features may be free of charge, single charge, pay by use, or subscription-based. Customers have shown that when they see the value, they are more than willing to pay for new apps and services.”