I’m absolutely thrilled that we have now launched our new operating system, MB.OS, to the world! This is a defining moment for everyone atMercedes-Benz AGbecause it signals the start of an exciting rollout of uncompromising and highly desirable vehicles that run entirely on our new proprietary operating system.
The word ‘proprietary’ is critical. Building a completely new operating system for our vehicles was never going to be easy, but that’s what we set out to do and now we’re getting ready to bring it to series production.
Why did we build our own operating system?
The answer is simple: to gain speed and adaptability! Our latest Mercedes-Benz vehicles are so much more than machines to transport people from A to B; they are hyper-intelligent, connected and software driven. To deliver an entirely new and intuitive user experience, we needed a completely new approach – one that would give us full control over the digital experience, data security and give us the freedom and flexibility to update our vehicles over-the-air to keep them feeling like new. To enable this, we needed a powerful chip-to-cloud architecture that seamlessly integrates all essential vehicle domains – namely infotainment, automated driving, body & comfort, driving and charging. MB.OS is purpose-built and unique in the industry. By incorporating the latest, powerful #AI, we are now able to introduce hyper-intelligent vehicles, faster development times, plus more frequent and comprehensive software updates. The all-new #CLA is the first Mercedes-Benz to use MB.OS and this is why it’s the cleverest car we’ve ever made and our first software-driven vehicle.
A challenge unlike any other
In many ways, the biggest challenge wasn’t just the software code – it was the mindset shift. Moving from a traditional automotive development cycle to a software-first approach required a massive transformation inside Mercedes-Benz. As a result, we brought key software areas in-house, expanded our digital and #DevOps teams and invested heavily in infrastructure and buildings, specifically our new Electric Software Hub (ESH) in Sindelfingen, near Stuttgart. On top of this, we added our own special ingredient: an unshakeable team spirit. From day one, everyone was up for the challenge and had total belief in what we had set out to achieve.
To put the size of the challenge into perspective, here are some facts and figures for you:
- MB.OS is powered by more than 650 million lines of code, making it one of the most sophisticated automotive software platforms ever created.
- We created an extra 3,000 new jobs globally in the field of software development and brought them together with the expertise from across Mercedes-Benz and our tech partners.
- Ensuring the performance, security and safety, including compliance with ASIL-D (Automotive Safety Integrity Level) standards for safety-critical functions required countless hours of testing and new automated ways of working.
- MB.OS is the brains behind our new Advanced Driver Assistance System (#ADAS), MB.DRIVE. The water-cooled ADAS computer uses one @nvidia Orin-X chip that can conduct up to 254 trillion operations per second (TOPS). The S-Class and EQS both use dual Orin-X chips with a maximum capability of 508 TOPS. What’s more, the CLA’s ADAS supercomputer is trained on 200 petabytes of AI data, which is the equivalent to two million 4K movies!
- MB.OS is also the driving force behind our latest fourth-generation MBUX infotainment system. At the heart of the system is the Snapdragon Digital Chassis solution. This is a cloud-based system on chip (SoC) that enables multiple system processing, which helps us deliver a more premium in-car digital experience for our customers.
Evolving with the latest technology
There’s no doubt that the software world moves at an incredibly fast pace. Five years ago, nobody was talking about large language models (#LLM) in cars. Now, MB.OS will launch with not one, but two integrated #GenAI models – #ChatGPT onMicrosoft AzureOpenAI Service andGoogleGemini – and more will follow. This kind of adaptability is exactly why we built MB.OS.It has been designed to be modular, updatable and scalable across every model. That means we can deliver new features, continuous improvements and better user experiences for our customers throughout the lifecycle of the vehicle.
To keep up with the rapid pace of development, we work together with our partners in a white and grey box approach with licence code, Free and Open-Source Software (#FOSS) components and, of course, our proprietary code and models. Moving from a black box approach towards a white box principle has many benefits, not least the fact that we have absolute transparency over the code and it’s flexible so we can adapt it to our needs. Would it have been possible to develop MB.OS without access to #FOSS and licenced components? Yes, but it would have taken us much longer and required significantly higher investment.
2025 and beyond
The first Mercedes-Benz with the new MB.OS will hit the road later this year. Personally, I think the team have done a fabulous job, especially when it comes to accepting the challenge of integrating the new scope and partners in a project that was actively underway. The MB.OS architecture allows us to introduce new features and apps, and enhance the user experience with every new release. After the introduction of the all-new CLA later this year, we will roll out MB.OS for other model lines, revealing even more impressive features and greater intelligence. This journey has been demanding and intense but seeing MB.OS come to life has been such a rewarding experience. And the best part? We’re just getting started.
What do you like most about MB.OS?
