Mercedes with AI from Brainchip and Nvidia
Bamboo fiber and vegan leather in the interior of the Mercedes Vision EQXX
On the inside, the function of the technological leader is also visible. All carpets are composed entirely of bamboo fibers. Deserttex is a vegan leather replacement made from pulverized cactus fibers and a bio-based polyurethane matrix.
Mylo, an artificial leather that is also utilized, is manufactured from mushrooms, namely mycelium. The well-known synthetic leather Dinamica, which in the concept car is made out of 38% recycled PET bottles, rounds out the material combination.
The infotainment system, which runs on an 8K screen with mini-LED technology and a diagonal of 47.5 inches, is also brand new. Passengers can converse with the avatar, who serves as a tour guide.
Inspired by the Mercedes Vision AVTR concept car The Vision EQXX also use artificial intelligence to handle air conditioning and other functions. When the received signals hit specified thresholds, information should be delivered. Hey, Mercedes voice control should use far less electricity than previous MBUX systems.
To that goal, the Baden-Württemberg firm is collaborating with the Californian firms Brainchip and Nvidia. Brainchip supplies the Akida hardware and software, which consists of 1.2 million neurons per SoC divided across an 80 NPU chipset produced in 28 nm at contract manufacturer TSMC.
In turn, Nvidia provides the Geforce RTX 3080 with the Orin SoC based on the Ampere architecture & Co. continues to be the driving force behind future MBUX generations, creating the MBUX operating system and autonomous driving functions in collaboration with Mercedes.
Although Mercedes recently declared on July 22, 2021, that it will only put fully electric platforms for cars and vans to market starting in 2025, Mercedes expects to continue making and selling automobiles with combustion engines that have already been on the market as long as there is a demand. The Group is planning for the possibility of regional variations.
All future compact vehicles in the A/CLA/GLA and B/GLB series will be based on the Mercedes Modular Architecture platform beginning in 2024. The MMA platform can be utilized for both e-cars and automobiles with a 4-cylinder engine positioned transversely.
Mercedes will collaborate with the Chinese automobile maker Geely, with whom the Swabians are already working on the Smart #1 electric car, to create the combustion engines for the MMA vehicles in order to save money in both situations.
MMA e-car versions should rely, at least in part, on low-cost LFP batteries, which can tolerate more charging cycles than normal lithium-ion batteries but are more sensitive to cold temperatures.
From 2025, all Mercedes luxury-class vehicles will be based on the MB.EA electric car platform, which will be devoid of an LFP battery, so that a new edition of the E-Class, for example, will only be entirely electric.
After 2025, the equivalent with a combustion engine will be constructed on the MRA rear-wheel-drive architecture and will most likely endure many facelifts.
