This is the final post of a series about Mercedes-Benz efforts to build out a new operating system MB.OS. The previous posts focused on Geography, India is a main location for R&D, economic benefits - Moving to a recurring revenue model, and defensive regulatory positioning - complying with safety and environmental regulations that are coming from the EU and the US. Today's post is focused the tech side of the equation.
Starting from 2024 all vehicles across multiple brands will use a consistent operating system platform technology called “MB.OS”. MB.OS is structured in four major functional areas: infotainment, automated driving, body and comfort, driving and charging. Key technology foundation elements include nVidia’s DRIVE AGX platform (selected in 2020) developed for the nVidia ORIN ARM-architecture system-on-a-chip with the current Ampere generation GPU chipset for AI functions.
Development of MB.OS is done using AGILE-style methods with best-practice techniques on the platform software Linux and BlackBerry QNX. Industry-driven Adaptive AutoSAR practices are used in development. nVidia is also investing for software, AI features, and hardware that enable ‘perpetual software upgrades’. nVidia software Drive AGX foundations for Drive OS, DriveWorks (sensors), Drive IX, Drive Hyperion, and Drive AV are available. Continued investment by nVidia is seen to lower MB investment allowing focus on differentiated features. MB’s goal is to retain the responsibility and control for software architecture and integration.
MB.OS architecture is to replace existing MB approaches that saw as many as 80 control units placed in a single current S-Class vehicle. Prior generations of MB vehicles saw uncoordinated controls implementations bedevil consumers and repair sites. The software-enabled ‘Dieselgate’ scandals cost MB more than Euro1B in regulatory fines and reputation-damaging recalls of more than 280,000 C- and E-Class vehicles in Europe, a USA regulatory fines of more than USD$1.5B, class-action lawsuit settlement of more than USD$700M, and recall of 250,000 USA vehicles. MB.OS is seen to bring control of software back to MB.
Capabilities
MB sees capabilities from MB.OS including ongoing improvement of the AI processes implemented thru training of neural networks in a cloud data center. The consumer luxury experience is seen to be improved by data collection, evaluation/improvement, and user customization. A continuous improvement cycle and continuous OTA updating for features and subscriptions are key capabilities. MB is responding to business model changes that see Ford, GM, and Tesla transforming supply-chain, distribution, and consumer relationships.
If you’d like to read the first post in this series, you can find it here – https://www.ekalore.com/post/india-in-the-driver-s-seat
Or if you’d like to see other articles about Alien Invasions (overwhelming competitors from outside the marketplace) https://www.ekalore.com/alien-invaders
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