Along with a host of other big announcements from Mercedes Benz today, including, of course the 2024 E-Class sedan’s interior, is one that it’s creating its own proprietary operating system. MB.OS will serve not only as the future infotainment interface for Mercedes models but it’ll also underpin software upgrades, automated driving functions, and more.
Building an operating system will give Mercedes more power over how the system functions both on an internal level and at the customer level. In this case, MB.OS will feature a chip-to-cloud architecture and it’ll integrate software and hardware from key tech players in the space like Google.
Mercedes says that MB.OS will connect to every major aspect of the company’s value chain “including development, production, and omnichannel commerce and services.” To put that more simply, this isn’t just about improving an infotainment experience. It’s about Mercedes having the power to fine-tune its software over a longer period of time.
More: 2024 Mercedes E-Class Revealed With Passenger Display, TikTok And Selfie Camera
Just one example of how that’s possible is by improving the automated driving experience. Mercedes is partnering with NVIDIA to create a “driving brain” as it puts it. The system is capable of conducting 254 trillion operations per second in an effort to process data from numerous vehicle sensors. At the backbone of the system is the ability to integrate machine learning which is supported at the core by MB.OS in partnership with NVIDIA.
The new operating system will still work to improve the infotainment experience though. Mercedes says that it’ll leverage its partnership with Google to integrate its own branded navigation experience. That’ll include in-car data and navigation capabilities through the Google Maps platform. In addition, when using the Drive Pilot Level 3 autonomous feature, drivers can use the YouTube app embedded in the software.
For Free? Not So Fast
It’ll even work with Antstream to include arcade-style games in cars and with in-car video conferencing apps like Zoom and Webex. Keep in mind though that none of these features are promised as free upgrades or standard features. Mercedes knows that it can ultimately charge more with MB.OS and it clearly plans to.
It says that in 2022 it generated more than a billion euros in software-enabled revenue and expects over a billion in earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) by 2025. Software is such a vital piece of the puzzle that the automaker says it’ll allocate a quarter of its research and development budget towards it by mid-decade. Expect to see the first production cars with MB.OS around the same time on the upcoming MMA platform.
