How Mercedes-Benz India is leveraging AI to make better luxury electric and connected cars

Mercedes-Benz India has the largest car park of ‘connected luxury cars’ with over 79,000 connected vehicles on the road, according to company data. It has not only recognised the future potential of artificial intelligence (AI) in the automotive industry but also started using AI-based technology in its cars as well as in production and enterprise operations. “Today, AI is like what super computers were in the1980s and 90s which makes them rare and famous. The future will be very dynamic as every smart phone becoming a supercomputer.  To operationalise AI, there is a lot to be achieved by new generation workforce to make it verifiable in legal aspects,” Santosh Iyer, MD & CEO, Mercedes-Benz India said.

 In the future, he added, AI will open doors of opportunities for data analysts and engineers who can channelize it to obtain maximum benefit for the business.

In Mercedes cars, features such as ‘Hey Mercedes’ (voice assist), Active Break Assistance, gesture controls, etc. use AI to drive intelligent conversations with its customers, to remotely inspect/ diagnose their cars, hiring employees and more.

“We have integrated AI in production, where we have a combination of smart manufacturing processes, connected systems and human skills. With data-driven decision-making, we aim to achieve higher efficiencies in production & supply chains. Recently, we have introduced AI in customer service where customers can consent to opt for ‘Telediagnosis’ on their Mercedes Me application. Once activated, it enables our service team to monitor the car’s condition perform a quick remote diagnosis to save valuable time for customers,” he added.

The automaker's luxury EV, the EQS 580, he adds, features the MBUX Hyperscreen which comes with 800 personalization options.

“Over 20 further functions, from active massage programme to birthday reminder, all are aided automatically through AI. There are multiple used cases that I can refer here, where AI kicks in with the touch of a button or a simple voice command,” he said.

The chassis of the EQS can be lifted to provide more ground clearance. “MBUX remembers the GPS position at which the user made use of the "Vehicle Lift-Up" function. If the vehicle approaches the GPS position again, MBUX independently proposes to lift the EQS,” he said.

According to Iyer, with autonomous driving advancing fast and connected car ecosystem becoming an accepted norm, future cars will become self-sufficient entities and a true human-like companion to users. Globally, Mercedes-Benz is the architect of its proprietary operating system Mercedes-Benz Operating System (MB.OS).

“MB.OS is a new purpose-built chip-to-cloud architecture that will be central to every future product, delivering exceptional software capabilities and delighting customers with its ease of use,” he said.

Mercedes-Benz and Google recently announced a long-term strategic partnership to accelerate auto innovation and create the industry’s next-generation digital luxury car experience.

“These new strategic collaborations will provide Mercedes-Benz customers embedded access to Google features and maps; further partnerships with key tech players in hardware and software will ensure and efficient development and rapid scaling,” he said.