Mercedes-Benz and Nvidia to launch self-driving production car next year

At this year's CES, the field of autonomous driving stole the spotlight and attracted the attention of most viewers. In particular, many car companies, map vendors, and parts suppliers have joined the camp of Nvidia, an "artificial intelligence computing company", as if holding on to this thigh is equivalent to firmly grasping the future of autonomous driving. At this year's CES, Audi made a high-profile appearance in the keynote of Nvidia CEO Huang Renxun. The two companies are preparing to launch fully autonomous vehicles that can be put on the road in 2020.

Mercedes-Benz, another major automaker, was much more low-key. The news of its cooperation with Nvidia was mentioned at a forum at CES 2017. Sajjad Khan, vice president of Mercedes-Benz Digital Vehicle and Mobility, and Nvidia CEO Huang Renxun jointly announced that the two companies will launch a mass-produced self-driving car equipped with Nvidia's AI technology, which will be available as early as 2018 - ahead of Audi's plan.

According to the reporter, NVIDIA is developing an AI-driven safety system called Co-Pilot, which uses voice recognition, facial recognition and eye tracking software to assist drivers.

However, it remains a mystery how AI technology similar to Co-Pilot will be applied to Mercedes-Benz's mass-produced car. Moreover, more details of the car are still unknown, such as whether it will be a redesigned model for autonomous driving or whether it will still use Mercedes-Benz's original vehicles for transformation?

Obviously, the confidence shown by Sajjad Khan temporarily weakened these doubts. "I am very proud to be able to bring the product to users together with NVIDIA within 12 months."

In fact, the cooperation between Mercedes-Benz and Nvidia started three years ago, and the core teams of both sides also complemented each other - Silicon Valley in the United States and Stuttgart in Germany for development. But compared with the more than 10-year cooperation between Nvidia and Audi, it is not mature yet.

Huang Renxun is not worried about this. "After the two teams came together, a chemical reaction immediately occurred. We all agree that AI will subvert the previous driving experience and make driving more comfortable."

In fact, the famous Mercedes-Benz has not been idle in the field of autonomous driving in recent years, but it has been relatively low-key. Industry insiders should have heard of their previously launched autonomous driving buses and trucks.

In terms of passenger cars, Mercedes-Benz is also constantly exploring assisted driving related technologies. Last summer, Mercedes-Benz engineers brought the new generation of Drive Pilot system to its S-series sedans. This system is similar to Tesla's Autopilot, which is well known to everyone. It also includes functions such as automatic cruising, braking, acceleration, vehicle speed and lane keeping. Some users who have experienced Drive Pilot even said that the effect is better than Autopilot - for example, in terms of the stability of turning and deceleration.

Moreover, the 2017 Mercedes-Benz E-Class sedan is already equipped with a simplified version of Drive Pilot. In this regard, Ola K?llenius, a member of the board of directors of Daimler Group, said, "The Drive Pilot system can take over 80% of the driving tasks, and the remaining 20% ​​is left to the original car itself."

Mercedes-Benz vehicles equipped with the Drive Pilot system can use a button to start automatic driving. The system will automatically maintain the direction and speed of the vehicle, and the driver can take his hands off the steering wheel. However, necessary manual takeover is also indispensable because sufficient driving safety needs to be guaranteed.

It is worth mentioning that after the Mercedes-Benz Drive Pilot system starts the automatic driving function, it can control the maximum speed of 130 miles per hour (there is no speed limit on the German highway), which is obviously crazier than Tesla's 72 kilometers per hour. Of course, the front camera of the Mercedes-Benz system can recognize the speed limit sign on the highway and adjust it to the speed limit at any time.

But no matter what, assisted driving is still only the initial stage of autonomous driving, and the driver's control is still the mainstream. To transition from assisted driving to a higher level of autonomous driving, Leifeng.com believes that Mercedes-Benz's choice of NVIDIA is the most prudent decision at this stage.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.