BRN - Mercedes

[Rise from the ashes]

 

[Perhaps]

Good overview on production changes coming the next years:

7 benefits of the Mercedes MMA platform arriving in 2024

The Mercedes MMA is a dedicated electric skateboard that is set to change the dynamics of next-gen entry-level and mid-range Mercedes-Benz EVs.

topelectricsuv.com

 

[Perhaps]

Article describing the new E-class coming in the beginning of 2023:

Mercedes E-Klasse: Neuer Basis-Motor 2025

Mercedes bringt für das Modelljahr 2025 eine neue Motorisierung für die E-Klasse auf den Markt und bleibt dabei dem Verbrennermotor treu.

www.auto-motor-und-sport.de

Most interesting part translated in English:

Equipment and design borrowings from the S-Class

When it comes to the safety package, the new E-Class W214 inherits a lot from the new S-Class, with the existing assistants mainly being adapted in terms of their scope of services. In the medium term, the E-Class should also be able to drive autonomously according to Level 3. Operation is essentially based on a large touchscreen between the driver and front passenger. But also an improved voice control should come. The basic information is presented to the E-Class driver as usual via virtual displays behind the steering wheel, presumably in 3D if desired. And the latest version of the MBUX infotainment system will also be on board.

 

[CascadeBlue]

Mercedes To Introduce New MMA "Entry Luxury" EV Platform In 2024

With this new platform, Mercedes wants to push its entry level offerings upmarket chasing higher profit margins.

insideevs.com

I like where this might be going, particularly this quote:

However, the EVs that will replace today’s compact Mercs will be more expensive and upmarket propositions. According to Markus Schafer, Mercedes’ Chief Technology Officer,

The vehicles of our entry-luxury MMA platform will be based on the MB.OS software architecture for the first time in 2024. They will feature many innovations that stem from the tech program behind the Vision EQXX. As part of this, we are refocusing our portfolio and reducing at the same time, complexity. We aim to achieve this with a smaller number of alternatives. Instead of seven, we plan to offer four models in this segment.

Do we know if Akida may be involved in MB.OS "Hey Mercedes" by 2024?

 

[Learning]

This includes the new version of "MBUX infotainment system makes it even more digital and intelligent."

Half way through the videos, the actor is talking to the MBUX (very interesting & funy)

Mercedes-Benz Media

Exklusive Einblicke und individuelle Angebote: Erleben Sie mit Mercedes-Benz das Maximum aus digitaler Live-PR. Exclusive insights and individual offers: Experience the maximum of digital live PR with Mercedes-Benz.

media.mercedes-benz.com

Its great to be a shareholder.

 

[Learning]

Mercedes new commercial. Using MBUX with AI as the core of advertisement.

https://www.youtube.com › watch
Innovations by Mercedes-Benz: Magical Garage - YouTube

Its great to be a shareholder.

 

[Diogenese]

Since Mercedes is being discussed in the BRN Discussion thread, here's a link revive the earlier Mercedes thread :

cosors​

Regular​

• Apr 20, 2022
• Add bookmark
• #163

I just had a quick look at the new EQS. The Akida also takes control of parts of the MBUX and display controls. Do I understand this correctly?

"There is much to discover in the digital interior of the new EQS SUV: For example, the optional MBUX Hyperscreen, whose displays self-learn to adapt to your habits, and the large head-up display with augmented reality."

 

[It'sMeSNG]

Account Suspended

 

[Labsy]

Mercedes-Benz and NVIDIA: Software-Defined Computing Architecture for Automated Driving Across Future Fleet. | Mercedes-Benz Group

Mercedes-Benz, and NVIDIA, the global leader in accelerated computing, plan to enter into a cooperation to create a revolutionary in-vehicle computing system and AI computing infrastructure. Starting in 2024, this will be rolled out across the fleet of next-generation Mercedes-Benz vehicles...

group.mercedes-benz.com

Is it safe to say that NVIDIA Hyperion will be using AKIDA enhanced sensors as they will be rolled out onto merc cars by 2024?.... or am I missing something?
I realise this is an old article before everyone goes mental.

 

[Diogenese]

Mercedes-Benz and NVIDIA: Software-Defined Computing Architecture for Automated Driving Across Future Fleet. | Mercedes-Benz Group

Mercedes-Benz, and NVIDIA, the global leader in accelerated computing, plan to enter into a cooperation to create a revolutionary in-vehicle computing system and AI computing infrastructure. Starting in 2024, this will be rolled out across the fleet of next-generation Mercedes-Benz vehicles...

group.mercedes-benz.com

Is it safe to say that NVIDIA Hyperion will be using AKIDA enhanced sensors as they will be rolled out onto merc cars by 2024?.... or am I missing something?
I realise this is an old article before everyone goes mental.

Back in 2020, Nvidia had a serious case of vonNeumannitis.

US2020364508A1 USING DECAY PARAMETERS FOR INFERENCING WITH NEURAL NETWORKS

A processor, comprising: one or more arithmetic logic units (ALUs) to be configured to identify one or more digital representations of one or more objects based, at least in part, on one or more neural networks trained using one or more decay parameters;

wherein the one or more ALUs are further to be configured to:
apply the one or more decay parameters to prior state information maintained for the one or more neural networks and used for identifying the one or more objects, a weighting of the prior state information being reduced according to the one or more decay parameters;

wherein the one or more ALUs are further to be configured to:
store the state information external to the one or more neural networks and providing the state information to the one or more neural networks for each set of input to the one or more neural networks.

######################################################################

US2022153262A1 OBJECT DETECTION AND COLLISION AVOIDANCE USING A NEURAL NETWORK

It may just be possible that MB have knocked a few heads together ...

 

[Labsy]

Back in 2020, Nvidia had a serious case of vonNeumannitis.

US2020364508A1 USING DECAY PARAMETERS FOR INFERENCING WITH NEURAL NETWORKS

View attachment 12494


A processor, comprising: one or more arithmetic logic units (ALUs) to be configured to identify one or more digital representations of one or more objects based, at least in part, on one or more neural networks trained using one or more decay parameters;

wherein the one or more ALUs are further to be configured to:
apply the one or more decay parameters to prior state information maintained for the one or more neural networks and used for identifying the one or more objects, a weighting of the prior state information being reduced according to the one or more decay parameters;

wherein the one or more ALUs are further to be configured to:
store the state information external to the one or more neural networks and providing the state information to the one or more neural networks for each set of input to the one or more neural networks.

######################################################################

US2022153262A1 OBJECT DETECTION AND COLLISION AVOIDANCE USING A NEURAL NETWORK

View attachment 12495

It may just be possible that MB have knocked a few heads together ...

I am in awe of your genius. Thankyou for clarifying

 

[Labsy]

 

[Labsy]

Permit me to speculate that it would be very strategic of Mercedes-Benz to accumulate a small interest in BRN.ax via a "citicorp nominee structure" in order to control a key asset in the make up of their future fleet....they have history of investing in other companies and what better way to attain and maintain market leadership...
Pure speculation of course ....

 

[cosors]

Bringing across a Mercedes post that I've done on the old forum which shall not be named for newer members to read. There's plenty which could also be brought across so feel free to add anything that you feel is relevant.
__________________

Posted 26/01/2022


I've been doing some latenight reading on all things akida and have stumbled upon some news that I was unaware of and am fairly sure has not been posted on HC before.

Before Mercedes' eventual incorporation of akida into its EQXX voice control system, Mercedes collaborated with Intel to test its neuromorphic processor and its suitability for simple voice commands in vehicles...... Stick that in your pipe and smoke it, Mike Davies!

See the following article by Accenture Labs titled "Driving intelligence at the edge with Neuromorphic Computing".

On page 6 there is a case study titled "Responsive voice control for smart vehicles".

In a recent collaboration with an automotive client, we demonstrated that spiking
neural networks running on a neuromorphic processor can recognize
simple voice commands up to 0.2 seconds faster than a commonly used
embedded GPU accelerator, while using up to a thousand times less
power. This brings truly intelligent, low latency interactions into play, at
the edge, even within the power-limited constraints of a parked vehicle.

The above paragraph left me wondering whether Mercedes was the automotive client in question. I thought the chances were high given that Mercedes is, that I'm aware of, the only automotive business using spiking neural networks within its voice control system.

See page 16 for the Accenture team responsible for the document. Their LinkedIn's can be found here: Alex Kass (Director at Accenture Labs) and Timothy Shea (Research Lead at Intel (previously at Accenture Labs)).

I then did a @ManChildreborn😜 style deep dive on their respective LinkedIn pages and found an interesting post on Tim's LinkedIn. The article linked to his post is titled "Smarter Cars: Auto Makers Experiment With Chips That Think Like Humans".

For context, the article is dated December 10th 2020 and in my view, achieves three things:

1. It confirms, irrefutably, that Mercedes was testing Intel neuromorphic processors as recently as December 2020
2. Peter's Van Der Made's consistent "we have a three-year lead on our competitors" is well founded, at least when it comes to Intel.
3. The article shows how truly well timed and positioned akida is in being the first and only SNN neuromorphic processor available to the market

Support for 1 - It's there in plain english.
Support for 2 - Within the article, and from the horses mouth: "Intel’s neuromorphic chips could begin selling commercially within five years, according to Mike Davies, director of Intel’s Neuromorphic Computing Lab." Five years from December 2020 puts Intel's Loihi commercialisation out to December 2025. Akida was commercially available around December 2021 and so we have a 4 year lead or thereabouts.
Support for 3 - A direct quote from the article: "The chips are expected to be the predominant computing architecture for new, advanced forms of AI deployments by 2025, according to Gartner. By that year, Gartner predicts the technology will displace graphics-processing units." Intel bloody well better hurry up or they won't have a neuromorphic processor on the market when their GPU's are displaced.

Now for some extra fun - if you revert back to the post on Tim's LinkedIn and read the comments, you will find a comment by Alex Kass. Alex refers to the collaboration with the automotive client and provides a link to an "Intel Labs Day 2020: Accenture Session" video that demonstrates Intel's Kapoho Bay / Loihi chip recognising voice commands in a proof of concept system (2:50 - 6:18) such as turning lights on and off, opening doors and starting the engine.

As history shows, Mercedes went with akida in the end.

Why wait until 2025 for a SNN neuromorphic processor when you can have it now?

IMO DYOR

I have been wondering for two days now who brought MB to Akida and the maybe answer has been here and you knew it all the time but I didn't. I did my own research and ended up validating if not already posted and exactly at the first post in the MB thread
But it was an interesting journey about MBRDI (MB R&D India). Sometimes I can not see the forest for the trees.

Thank you for your excellent work @SERA2g ! I had read your post long before my question came up but I should have just drawn the right conclusions.
Now I'm just very happy that we were significantly faster than Intel. But I also read somewhere today that Loihi is not designed for the Edge. Hopefully MB won't change its mind in a few years, but I think we were fully convincing. I'm somewhat impressed by how calculated MB's choice has been with us.

Because this was a kind of Eureka for me today I bring here your find again in full length:

"Smarter Cars: Auto Makers Experiment With Chips That Think Like Humans​

Mercedes-Benz is exploring how neuromorphic chips could bring new AI capabilities to its vehicles​

Intel Labs’s neuromorphic computing research chip, named Loihi.​

PHOTO: INTEL

By Sara Castellanos
Dec. 10, 2020

Experimental computer chips that try to mimic the way human brains work could accelerate the use of voice and gesture commands in automobiles, researchers at Intel Corp. and Accenture PLC say.

The cutting-edge technique, known as neuromorphic computing, could use significantly less energy than traditional computer- and graphic-processing units that connect wirelessly to a car via the cloud. Today’s cars don’t have the AI capabilities to recognize many speech and gesture commands, in part because of the energy requirements necessary to make those functions work.

Car makers are recognizing the need for AI methods that consume less energy, which is one reason why neuromorphic computing can be beneficial, said Tim Shea, technology researcher at Accenture Labs. “They’re already running up against limitations of [current chips] not being scalable enough,” he said.
German auto maker Mercedes-Benz AG announced last week it had joined the Intel Neuromorphic Research Community to explore how neuromorphic chips could help increase energy efficiency, speed and accuracy for vehicle-related AI uses.

“With the knowledge we’ll gain, we want to achieve a significant boost for our AI applications in and around our vehicles,” said Jasmin Eichler, director of future technologies at Mercedes-Benz, in a statement.
Intel’s neuromorphic chips could begin selling commercially within five years, according to Mike Davies, director of Intel’s Neuromorphic Computing Lab.
Applications powered by neuromorphic chips inside a car could help recognize when a person is shivering and automatically adjust the temperature, Accenture Labs researchers say. They could also recognize a voice command to turn on the car or roll down the window. The chips would be integrated in the car itself and would not need to connect to the cloud in order to work.
Accenture Labs worked on a neuromorphic computing experiment this year with an undisclosed car maker. In the experiment, a neuromorphic chip made by Intel Labs, named Loihi, recognized voice commands such as “start the engine.” The chip consumed 1,000 times less power and responded 200 milliseconds faster than a standard GPU, Mr. Shea

Intel is among several companies, universities and startups, such as International Business Machines Corp. , SynSense and Applied Brain Research, that are studying neuromorphic computing. “The industry is looking for new ways of developing AI systems with much lower power consumptions,” said Alan Priestley, AI technologies analyst at research firm Gartner Inc.

Energy consumption is an impediment to some AI deployments. Developing a single AI model, for example, can have a carbon footprint equivalent to the lifetime emissions of five average U.S. cars, according to researchers at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

With neuromorphic computing, it is possible to train machine-learning models using a fraction of the data it takes to train them on traditional computing hardware. That means the models learn similarly to the way human babies learn, by seeing an image or toy once and being able to recognize it forever, The Wall Street Journal has previously reported.

The technique uses significantly less energy than today’s GPUs, which are one of the main computer chips used for AI systems, especially neural networks. Neural networks are used in speech recognition and understanding, as well as computer vision.

Another advantage of the computing technique is that it is “event-driven,” meaning it is only computing and using energy when it is activated by an event, such as a voice or gesture command. “It’s not just computing all the time in a uniform way, whether there’s activity or not,” said Alex Kass, a fellow and principal director at Accenture Labs.

Neuromorphic chips can be placed inside cars to do the computing “at the edge,” or inside the car itself, without needing to access the cloud. That means the AI functions always work, even in areas with bad connectivity, such as national forests, Accenture researchers say.

The chips are expected to be the predominant computing architecture for new, advanced forms of AI deployments by 2025, according to Gartner. By that year, Gartner predicts the technology will displace graphics-processing units."
https://www.wsj.com/articles/smarte...ink-like-humans-11607631902?mod=hp_minor_pos5

Intelligent In-Vehicle Interaction Technologies​

 

[cosors]

Here is some more info about MB(RDI):

"How India is shaping Mercedes-Benz's most cutting-edge innovations​

Mercedes-Benz Research and Development India (MBRDI) has emerged as the German carmaker's biggest R&D centre globally. It is powering the company's some of the most cutting-edge systems and tech updates​

Updated Jun 12, 2022 | 09:24 AM IST

The Stuttgart, Germany-based carmaker Mercedes-Benz’s India research centre is the company’s largest research & development (R&D) facility outside its home country. The Bengaluru-based facility, which draws from the best of India's IT talent pool, is driving the bulk of technology development after over two decades of its establishment as a captive centre. It is here that the majority of the company’s technology development for autonomous vehicles and connected cars occurs in collaboration with global teams.
Mercedes-Benz Research and Development India’s (MBRDI’s) fingerprints are all over the company; it is an indispensable part of everything from infotainment systems to automated solutions and computer vision to the design and production elements of the ultra-premium vehicles.
“We spent our formative years as a student, learning from a company which already had 100 years of car-making history. Now, with the advent of digital, we’ve become the largest R& D hub globally,” said Manu Saale, managing director and CEO, Mercedes-Benz Research and Development India (MBRDI) told Economic Times.

Saale attributed MBRDI’s emergence as a powerhouse of innovation to India’s growing talent pool. It employs some 9000 workers and is expected to hire 1000 more during the year.

MBRDI is in “hyper mode” to recruit people with digital skills, which Saale says is akin to hiring for an IT company. With the break-neck speed of innovation in the car industry, Saale expects high-throttle requirements to continue over the next few years.
Among MBRDI’s many contributions include its work on MBUX (Mercedes-Benz User Experience) which boasts of features like the interior assist—the complete AI software for which was developed at MBRDI. It was also instrumental in developing ‘Hey Mercedes’ feature. The centre is also closely involved in the development of the MB. OS (Mercedes-Benz Operating System) which is expected to be the core software platform for all its cars from 2024."

https://www.mbrdi.co.in/news-room/






You have already seen this info. But I bring it again in full length because from my point of view it is important to recognize the interaction of MB India and Germany and who takes over which work. I assume that they have integrated Akida into the Nvidia system:

Electric Software Hub: Software integration factory at the Sindelfingen site

April 08, 2022 - Mercedes-Benz is aiming for a leadership role in both electric driving and vehicle software. In order to accelerate this development, the company has invested more than 200 million euros in the Electric Software Hub in the Mercedes Technology Center (MTC) in Sindelfingen. There, numerous software, hardware, system integration and testing functions are bundled under one roof. At the same time, Mercedes-Benz is intensifying its approach of cross-departmental cooperation.
The Electric Software Hub accelerates the transformation of Mercedes-Benz. A strategic pillar of the company manifests itself here: "Lead in electric drive and car software". From 2025, all new vehicle architectures will be exclusively electric. When it comes to vehicle software, Mercedes-Benz is pursuing a holistic approach that ranges from basic research and development through to the coding of software scopes. In Sindelfingen alone, around 1,000 new jobs are currently being created for software developers. Up to 2,000 additional jobs are currently being added in the global R&D network. The Electric Software Hub brings together the two strategic key issues for the future of Mercedes-Benz and strengthens the role of the Sindelfingen location as a central development and qualification hub.

The Electric Software Hub is an epicenter of our research and development and at the same time closely linked to the global production sites. This is where central aspects of the future of Mercedes-Benz become reality - in particular our own operating system MB.OS. Cars are among the most complex products of all. The hardware and software are decoupled and must work together perfectly. We guarantee this in the Electric Software Hub: it is our software integration factory.

Markus Schaefer Member of the Board of Management of Mercedes-Benz Group AG, Chief Technology Officer responsible for development and purchasing

Faster and more efficient development​

With increasing digitalization, the control units in the vehicle are taking on more and more complex tasks - from infotainment to driver assistance systems to electric drives. The integration of all components is thus gaining in importance. This process is highly complex. This is all the more true as vehicle development is no longer completed at a certain point. Cars in customer hands also receive continuous software updates with new and improved functions. The Electric Software Hub offers decisive advantages in this new vehicle world: around 1,100 experts from 19 cross-functional departments work closer together than ever. Together with the expansion of digital test procedures, this increases both the speed and the quality of the integration processes. The intensive networking of the disciplines in one building makes the Electric Software Hub exceptional. It stands for Simultaneous Engineering and Seamless Integration at its best.

With the Electric Software Hub, Mercedes-Benz opens a software integration factory at the Sindelfingen location.
The new building has 70,000 square meters of space spread over eight floors. Inside the Electric Software Hub, the entire electrics/electronics integration process of vehicle development is reflected. The employees ensure that all hardware and software components that are created in research and development work perfectly and interact smoothly. Software and hardware continue to flow into the vehicle from top to bottom – from the code to the product – until they are integrated into vehicle prototypes on the lower surfaces. In this phase, there is an intensive exchange with the global vehicle factories, so that new developments can be optimally transferred to series production.

The most important data of the Mercedes-Benz Electric Software Hub:​

Electric Software Hub Sindelfingen.

Voices on the Electric Software Hub​

The transformation requires even more networked work. With the Electric Software Hub we create the environment for flexibility and creativity. An open room concept, free choice of workplace and various quiet zones indoors and outdoors offer optimal working conditions for our engineers. In this way, the approximately 1,100 colleagues in our new building can develop their full innovative power.

Sabine Kohleisen - Member of the Board of Management of Mercedes-Benz Group AG, responsible for Human Resources and Labor Director

Digitization is the central building block of the automobile production of the future. I am all the more pleased that the Electric Software Hub has now been created here at the Sindelfingen site near Factory 56, our state-of-the-art and fully digitized production facility. Here, the colleagues from development and production take the digitization of the company to a new level together.

Jörg Burzer - Member of the Board of Management of Mercedes-Benz Group AG, Production and Supply Chain Management

The Electric Software Hub will be the technical hub of digitization. With this software integration factory, we are consistently pursuing the path towards e-mobility and shaping the change towards a software-driven mobility provider. The investments that were made here are not only of enormous importance for the future viability of the Sindelfingen location, but also a clear commitment to Germany as a location - and the global crises make it very clear how crucial this is. As employee representatives, we know that the key to success is above all the know-how of the employees. Our experts on the topics of electromobility and software now find the ideal conditions here, to be able to work together across departments and in a state-of-the-art working environment. We are also pleased that around 3,000 software engineers are being hired worldwide - around 1,000 of them at the Sindelfingen site alone. We take the interests of our colleagues seriously and are committed to implementing them together with the company management.

Ergun Lumali - Deputy Chairman of the Supervisory Board and Chairman of the General Works Council of Mercedes-Benz Group AG"
https://group.mercedes-benz.com/unt...ingen/electric-software-hub-sindelfingen.html

 

[Diogenese]

Here is some more info about MB(RDI):
View attachment 14020
View attachment 14021

"How India is shaping Mercedes-Benz's most cutting-edge innovations​

Mercedes-Benz Research and Development India (MBRDI) has emerged as the German carmaker's biggest R&D centre globally. It is powering the company's some of the most cutting-edge systems and tech updates​

Updated Jun 12, 2022 | 09:24 AM IST

The Stuttgart, Germany-based carmaker Mercedes-Benz’s India research centre is the company’s largest research & development (R&D) facility outside its home country. The Bengaluru-based facility, which draws from the best of India's IT talent pool, is driving the bulk of technology development after over two decades of its establishment as a captive centre. It is here that the majority of the company’s technology development for autonomous vehicles and connected cars occurs in collaboration with global teams.
Mercedes-Benz Research and Development India’s (MBRDI’s) fingerprints are all over the company; it is an indispensable part of everything from infotainment systems to automated solutions and computer vision to the design and production elements of the ultra-premium vehicles.
“We spent our formative years as a student, learning from a company which already had 100 years of car-making history. Now, with the advent of digital, we’ve become the largest R& D hub globally,” said Manu Saale, managing director and CEO, Mercedes-Benz Research and Development India (MBRDI) told Economic Times.

Saale attributed MBRDI’s emergence as a powerhouse of innovation to India’s growing talent pool. It employs some 9000 workers and is expected to hire 1000 more during the year.

MBRDI is in “hyper mode” to recruit people with digital skills, which Saale says is akin to hiring for an IT company. With the break-neck speed of innovation in the car industry, Saale expects high-throttle requirements to continue over the next few years.
Among MBRDI’s many contributions include its work on MBUX (Mercedes-Benz User Experience) which boasts of features like the interior assist—the complete AI software for which was developed at MBRDI. It was also instrumental in developing ‘Hey Mercedes’ feature. The centre is also closely involved in the development of the MB. OS (Mercedes-Benz Operating System) which is expected to be the core software platform for all its cars from 2024."

https://www.mbrdi.co.in/news-room/






You have already seen this info. But I bring it again in full length because from my point of view it is important to recognize the interaction of MB India and Germany and who takes over which work. I assume that they have integrated Akida into the Nvidia system:

Electric Software Hub: Software integration factory at the Sindelfingen site
View attachment 14022
April 08, 2022 - Mercedes-Benz is aiming for a leadership role in both electric driving and vehicle software. In order to accelerate this development, the company has invested more than 200 million euros in the Electric Software Hub in the Mercedes Technology Center (MTC) in Sindelfingen. There, numerous software, hardware, system integration and testing functions are bundled under one roof. At the same time, Mercedes-Benz is intensifying its approach of cross-departmental cooperation.
The Electric Software Hub accelerates the transformation of Mercedes-Benz. A strategic pillar of the company manifests itself here: "Lead in electric drive and car software". From 2025, all new vehicle architectures will be exclusively electric. When it comes to vehicle software, Mercedes-Benz is pursuing a holistic approach that ranges from basic research and development through to the coding of software scopes. In Sindelfingen alone, around 1,000 new jobs are currently being created for software developers. Up to 2,000 additional jobs are currently being added in the global R&D network. The Electric Software Hub brings together the two strategic key issues for the future of Mercedes-Benz and strengthens the role of the Sindelfingen location as a central development and qualification hub.

Markus Schaefer Member of the Board of Management of Mercedes-Benz Group AG, Chief Technology Officer responsible for development and purchasing

Faster and more efficient development​

With increasing digitalization, the control units in the vehicle are taking on more and more complex tasks - from infotainment to driver assistance systems to electric drives. The integration of all components is thus gaining in importance. This process is highly complex. This is all the more true as vehicle development is no longer completed at a certain point. Cars in customer hands also receive continuous software updates with new and improved functions. The Electric Software Hub offers decisive advantages in this new vehicle world: around 1,100 experts from 19 cross-functional departments work closer together than ever. Together with the expansion of digital test procedures, this increases both the speed and the quality of the integration processes. The intensive networking of the disciplines in one building makes the Electric Software Hub exceptional. It stands for Simultaneous Engineering and Seamless Integration at its best.

With the Electric Software Hub, Mercedes-Benz opens a software integration factory at the Sindelfingen location.
The new building has 70,000 square meters of space spread over eight floors. Inside the Electric Software Hub, the entire electrics/electronics integration process of vehicle development is reflected. The employees ensure that all hardware and software components that are created in research and development work perfectly and interact smoothly. Software and hardware continue to flow into the vehicle from top to bottom – from the code to the product – until they are integrated into vehicle prototypes on the lower surfaces. In this phase, there is an intensive exchange with the global vehicle factories, so that new developments can be optimally transferred to series production.

The most important data of the Mercedes-Benz Electric Software Hub:​

Electric Software Hub Sindelfingen.

Voices on the Electric Software Hub​

Sabine Kohleisen - Member of the Board of Management of Mercedes-Benz Group AG, responsible for Human Resources and Labor Director

Jörg Burzer - Member of the Board of Management of Mercedes-Benz Group AG, Production and Supply Chain Management

Ergun Lumali - Deputy Chairman of the Supervisory Board and Chairman of the General Works Council of Mercedes-Benz Group AG"
https://group.mercedes-benz.com/unt...ingen/electric-software-hub-sindelfingen.html

Brilliant dot joining Cosors,

" It (MB India) was also instrumental in developing ‘Hey Mercedes’ feature."

So we can assume that BrainChip India has been working closely with MB India.

Maybe that was the reason we took our Indian programmer contractors in-house? That would give us a higher degree of confidence in the confidentiality of the developments.

 

[thelittleshort]

Brilliant dot joining Cosors,

" It (MB India) was also instrumental in developing ‘Hey Mercedes’ feature."

So we can assume that BrainChip India has been working closely with MB India.

Maybe that was the reason we took our Indian programmer contractors in-house? That would give us a higher degree of confidence in the confidentiality of the developments.

Maybe completely unrelated but some BrainChip India dots below - including job description/requirements for advertised position 6-11 months ago

 

[Diogenese]

Maybe completely unrelated but some BrainChip India dots below - including job description/requirements for advertised position 6-11 months ago

View attachment 14029
View attachment 14030
View attachment 14031


View attachment 14032

View attachment 14033
View attachment 14034

View attachment 14035
View attachment 14036

ASIC Verification Engineer, sounds like a job for @chapman89

 

[equanimous]

Is Mercedez F1 team utilizing Akida??

How Formula 1 uses machine learning to spice up races

To help make racing safer for drivers, yet more exciting for viewers, Formula One has turned to cloud computing.

www.afr.com

How Red Bull plans to take AI in F1 to the next level

www.motorsport.com

Instead, the most exciting aspect for both the team and its partner was in how they both planned to drive forward the use of AI and ML in F1.

Neuromorphic Computing for Autonomous Racing

With the rise of successful uses of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) for a wide variety of applications in the last decade, there has been a corresponding increase in interest in applying AI and ML methods to develop intelligent autonomous systems

Algorithm: EONS For training and designing an SNN for this task, we use Evolutionary Optimization for Neuromorphic Systems (EONS) [22]. EONS is based on evolutionary algorithms and trains SNNs for deployment to neuromorphic hardware

We use the LIDAR sensor as the observation, and we utilize information about distance traveled, collisions, and laps completed as part of our fitness evaluation

SUMMARY AND FUTURE WORK Here, we demonstrate a workflow for training a neuromorphic SNN in simulation targeting a particular hardware platform. We demonstrate the success of that workflow on an autonomous racing task. Our next step is to deploy the SNN shown in Figure 4 to 𝜇Caspian and integrate 𝜇Caspian onto the physical car shown in Figure 1.

Neuromorphic Computing for Autonomous Racing (Conference) | OSTI.GOV

The U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Scientific and Technical Information

www.osti.gov

 

[equanimous]

Navigating Driver Privacy and Safety of Electric Vehicles, Self-Driving Vehicles - insideBIGDATA​

A growing number of connected electric vehicles, as well as the evolution of self driving and automated vehicles are putting a greater demand on processing power. New technologies are advancing rapidly with the introduction of new processing methods, according to experts at BrainChip Holdings...

insidebigdata.com

Navigating Driver Privacy and Safety of Electric Vehicles, Self-Driving Vehicles​

August 15, 2021 by Editorial Team Leave a Comment

A growing number of connected electric vehicles, as well as the evolution of self driving and automated vehicles are putting a greater demand on processing power. New technologies are advancing rapidly with the introduction of new processing methods, according to experts at BrainChip Holdings Ltd (ASX: BRN), (OTCQX: BRCHF), a leading provider of ultra-low power high performance artificial intelligence technology.
These automotive systems rely heavily on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML) to train an increasing number of sensors, components, image and video processors in each vehicle. Autonomous vehicles and near-autonomous vehicles are predicted to generate 12-15 terabytes (1014) of data for every two hours of driving, and all this data has vulnerabilities as it is uploaded to the cloud. Consumer advocates have raised alarms about operator and passenger privacy, including location data, driver health, speed, and more with the dependence on the cloud.

“Many of the concerns about driverless cars and driver assist systems can be addressed with improved AI/ML operations and internal components,” said BrainChip Founder and CEO Peter van der Made. “Safety is a particularly salient one, but energy efficiency, privacy and security are critical considerations for the automotive industry and their supply chain to address.”

Notable ways that improved technology “under the hood” will reduce accidents, protect data, and conserve energy include:
Real-time learning
Improved chips can perform “incremental learning,” and add to their knowledge of the world as they are confronted with new information. Object recognition is one situation when real-time learning is impactful – a car needs to “see” whether an object in the road is a rock, an animal, or a plastic bag and be able to recognize the differences of each to react accordingly. Under current AI/ML processing methods, all are viewed as obstacles.
“Real-time incremental learning, sometimes called one-shot learning, makes it possible to train a chip within a fraction of a second, and trigger corrective action,” said van der Made. “As this is widely adopted, the safety improvements will be enormous.”
On-chip learning
Traditional microprocessors are too slow to perform the type of calculations that are required to recognize objects. A large array of parallel operating cells, each operating according to the same principle as brain cells, perform rapid computations in the vehicle, rather than sending data to a cloud / data center and then waiting for instructions. Not only does this reduce latency so decisions are made faster, it removes the need for internet connectivity, so the vehicle continues to operate even when there is no internet available. And, by retaining data within the vehicle itself, instead of transmitting it to a remote location, security and personal data privacy is vastly improved.

“On-chip learning is likely the single biggest breakthrough for the automotive industry, because this alone addresses critical concerns like response times and data privacy,” said van der Made. “A car travelling at 110 km/h does 50 meters in one second. A one-second, or even a fraction of a second delay in receiving data from the cloud could be fatal.”

Greener processing
Today’s luxury cars contain many microchips. In the future, more advanced self-driving cars will have so many on-board computing systems that their power consumption will have a major impact on the car’s performance. Smaller, light weight, energy-efficient chips will reduce this impact. Ultra low power brain-like processors that can deliver high performance object recognition and an overall higher range of efficiency, so the car’s battery performance or overall power consumption is maximized.

“Combined with on-chip learning, power-efficient processors will also save vast amounts of energy versus transmitting data via the cloud,” said van der Made. “A back-of-the-envelope calculation suggests a 97% energy savings over current technologies, which not only improves the efficiency of the car, it reduces the data center’s energy use.” Each instance that runs on a remote data center is contributing to its huge carbon footprint.

Mechanical monitoring
Advanced AI processing can be used to monitor the health status of the vehicle for early diagnostics through real-time analysis of sensor data. Sensors can identify sounds, vibrations, even odors to identify upcoming problems or failures. This is a safety feature that also eliminates human error, reduces labor and maintenance costs, and prevents machinery deterioration.
Operator monitoring
Future systems will be capable of “seeing” the driver to gauge attention, to verify their identity to ensure they are authorized to operate the vehicle, and alert drowsy or distracted drivers instantly.

“There are valid reasons to question the safety and security of self-driving cars, but the largest and most dangerous threat is the processing limitation of present technologies,” said van der Made. “Less capable processors are the real obstacle, especially if corners are cut. It is critical that all data is processed within the car itself, that the data be protected from leak or attack, and that these developments do not come at a greater cost to people or even our planet.”

BrainChip’s Akida™ brings artificial intelligence to the edge in a way that is different from existing technologies. The solution is high-performance, small, ultra-low power and enables a wide array of edge capabilities. The Akida AKD1000 and its intellectual property can be used in applications including Smart Home, Smart Health, Smart City and Smart Transportation. These applications include but are not limited to home automation and remote controls, industrial IoT, robotics, security cameras, sensors, unmanned aircraft, autonomous vehicles, medical instruments, object detection, sound detection, odor and taste detection, gesture control and cybersecurity