Nvidia and Mercedes extend partnership with a focus on next-gen autonomous driving

Mercedes was the first vehicle manufacturer to receive Level 3 autonomous driving approval in Europe, but there are still a lot of limitations to the functionality. For instance, the vehicle equipped with such ADAS can only reach speeds of up to 95 km/h and only on certain highways. Mercedes calls it Driver Pilot, and it was developed in collaboration with Nvidia. Today, the two companies announced that they are extending their partnership and will continue to work on a next-generation autonomous driving system.

Mercedes provided the expertise when it comes to safety and integration. At the same time, Nvidia brought the technology: Nvidia Hyperion is the in-vehicle computing and sensor architecture, and Nvidia Alpamayo Stack is the driving software with AI reasoning capabilities. Nvidia Halos is the safety system providing redundancy and guardrails.

The aim is to bring an SAE-Level 4 system that handles the entire driving task on its own and responds to problems in a timely manner, within certain operating conditions. This eliminates the need for a human to take over control. It's a step below Level 5, which is essentially full automation without any restrictions on roads and conditions.

Mercedes and Nvidia also highlight that we will see deeper integration between Mercedes' MB.OS and Nvidia's Hyperion system.

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