Nvidia’s Drive AGX platform will help Mercedes reach its autonomy goals
A decade ago, some industry bosses had already expected fully autonomous vehicles to be flooding the streets by now. That clearly hasn’t happened, but companies are still developing more advanced driver-assistance systems, including Mercedes-Benz, which has just extended its deal with Nvidia. The two companies ultimately want to achieve Level 4 autonomy.
The deepened strategic partnership between the two companies will bring together Mercedes-Benz’s automotive engineering and MB.OS platform with the most advanced autonomous driving hardware and software from Nvidia. Beyond laying the groundwork for L4 vehicles available to the public, it will also lead to the creation of what Mercedes calls “robolimousines.”
Nvidia has established itself as a leader in self-driving technologies and already has partnerships with Volvo, Hyundai, Toyota, Nissan, Geely, and GM. One of its key products is Alpamayo, a family of open VLA models that are trained in the virtual world and then deployed into the real world. Alpamayo also delivers “reasoning-based autonomy,” meaning it can explain why it acts a certain way.
Mercedes-Benz seems to be skipping Level 3 autonomy
Mercedes-Benz will also use Nvidia’s Hyperion architecture, which is being developed for Level 4 fleets and robotaxis, and uses the tech firm’s Drive AGX compute. It also works with Nvidia Halos, creating a parallel safety stack with redundancy and guardrails.
“Nvidia is our most important strategic partner in automated driving,” member of the board of management of Mercedes-Benz Group AG Jörg Burzer said. “The expansion of our partnership marks a significant milestone and reflects the mutual trust we have built over the years. Together, we aim to bring further pioneering innovations to the road, offering our customers the best automated driving experience while upholding the high safety standards they expect from a Mercedes-Benz.”
Curiously, Mercedes-Benz has changed its approach to autonomous driving systems. In 2023, it received approval in Europe to start selling a Level 3 system to owners of the EQS and S-Class, providing hands-free and eyes-off driving at speeds of up to 40 mph on highways. Earlier this year, the German brand revealed it was ditching this feature in Europe because of high development costs, partly because the system used an expensive LiDAR sourced from Luminar.
Through its strengthened deal with Nvidia, it appears Mercedes-Benz has lost interest in Level 3 and will instead jump from its current Level 2++ system straight to Level 4. As noted by The Verge, Waymo and Cruise also skipped L3 to focus on L4, citing safety concerns with Level 3 systems.
