Mercedes-Benz and Tencent partner-up on autonomous driving technology

Chinese EV companies are well ahead of global competitors when it comes to self-driving technology. Recent legislation changes in Shenzhen only widened the gap leaving European and American companies far behind. Mercedes is not giving up though and it has partnered up with Tencent to ensure its technology gets development boost and gets a chance to compete on the Chinese market.

Local subsidiary of Mercedes-Benz, the Daimler Greater China has signed a memorandum of cooperation with the smart mobility division of Tencent. The two companies are planning to jointly develop high-level autonomous driving technology.

The new partnership will focus on cloud computing, big data and artificial intelligence to support and advance the simulation and testing of Mercedes self-driving technology. The work carried out by the two companies will help Mercedes and Nvidia in their efforts to develop new technology in China.

The new joint lab will work on improving the services and technology offered in China by Mercedes-Benz. The German automaker is the first company in the world so far to meet the strict legal requirements for Level 3 autonomous driving. The company is hoping to improve its current technology and test the next generation systems and to do that it needs to improve its understanding of complex Chinese traffic conditions.

XPeng, Nio and LiAuto are Chinese market leaders in autonomous driving. XPeng offers City NGP and Nio has the subscription based NAD (Nio Autonomous Driving) with the latest NOP+ getting ready to launch in the autumn. The latest self-driving system from Nip promises “autonomous driving experience beyond expectations” thanks to its high precision mapping developed together with Tencent.

The new partnership puts Mercedes-Benz in a very strategic position as it gives the company access to Tencent’s technology, knowledge and expertise from which other competitors clearly have benefited so far. It’s not the first time the two companies work together - the Mercedes MyCar services were developed with help from Tencent in 2015 and both companies hope that this partnership will extend beyond self-driving technology.

It’s a smart decision for Mercedes, rather than trying to forge ahead alone, teaming up with a local tech giant will only speed things up and it will add huge value to Mercedes' offering in China. Although the German automaker has a huge local brand recognition, when it comes to Tencent it’s clear which one is bigger and more revered. It’s a small step for the two to work together but we can hope it results in giant leaps for technology and EV-kind…

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