During a joint press conference held Wednesday, NVIDIA and Mercedes Benz announced that they are teaming up to develop a “revolutionary in-vehicle computing system” for the automakers next generation of luxury automobiles in 2024.
Touted as “the most sophisticated and advanced computing architecture ever deployed in an automobile,” per an NVIDIA press release, this new software system will enable Level 2 and 3 driving autonomy — that’s on par and exceeding the current abilities of Tesla’s Autopilot, respectively — and Level 4 parking autonomy. That means that the vehicle will be able to, by and large, fit itself into parking stalls without any help from the human driver. There will still need to be a human on hand in case things go catastrophically sideways, but under normal conditions, there won’t be much call for them to intercede.
What’s more, the computing system, which is based on NVIDIA’s DRIVE platform, will be able to “automate driving of regular routes from address to address,” according to the release. The most intriguing future feature however will be over-air updates, enabling customers to buy and remotely install additional safety and convenience features, software applications, and subscription services for as long as they own the vehicle. This is similar to how Tesla sells its Enhanced Autopilot upgrades.
“We are excited to work with Mercedes-Benz,” Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA said. “Together, we’re going to revolutionize the car ownership experience, making the vehicle software programmable and continuously upgradeable via over-the-air updates. Every future MercedesBenz 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.”