Mercedes-Benz signed a definitive production agreement with Wayve on 22 September to put its AI Driver into future vehicles, with integration due to start within two years, adding a third driving system alongside Drive Pilot and Nvidia’s Alpamayo, Electrek reported.
Key points
- Wayve’s software has been integrated with Mercedes-Benz hardware, MB.OS and map interfaces.
- Mercedes-Benz describes the planned customer product as assistance for point-to-point driving in cities and on highways.
- Mercedes-Benz also invested in Wayve’s Series D round, which Electrek put at $1.5 billion and an $8.6 billion valuation.
Wayve connects AI Driver to MB.OS
Wayve supplies driving software rather than vehicles. For Mercedes-Benz, its AI Driver has been integrated into the carmaker’s production system architecture, using Mercedes-Benz hardware, the MB.OS operating system and map interfaces. The software was trained on Nvidia infrastructure running on Microsoft Azure.
Mercedes-Benz describes the planned customer offering as “advanced urban and highway point-to-point driving assistance”. Autoevolution reported that Wayve’s system had been tested with Mercedes-Benz’s production architecture. The production agreement moves the companies beyond that test towards integration in future vehicles.
Wayve says its end-to-end AI Driver can operate without HD maps, geofences or retraining for each city, according to Electrek. That approach differs from the heavily mapped, geofenced system used by Waymo. Wayve has added radar to its latest system, alongside its vision-based approach.
Electrek reported that the announcement named neither a vehicle model nor an SAE automation level. Mercedes-Benz’s description of driving assistance therefore stands apart from a designation for the degree of automation customers will receive. The stated schedule covers the start of integration within two years.
Drive Pilot and Alpamayo remain in Mercedes-Benz’s line-up
The Wayve agreement sits beside two other Mercedes-Benz driving systems. The carmaker already sells Drive Pilot, its own Level 3 system for highway traffic jams. Nvidia’s Alpamayo model is used in the Mercedes-Benz CLA as Level 2+ driving assistance. Wayve’s AI Driver gives the company another software approach for future vehicles.
The systems cover different uses and stages of deployment. Drive Pilot serves a defined highway situation, while the Wayve product is described by Mercedes-Benz as assistance for urban and highway journeys. Mercedes-Benz has a production agreement for the Wayve system, but the stated integration timetable places it in future cars rather than vehicles already on sale.
Jörg Burzer, Mercedes-Benz’s chief technology officer, called the partnership “the world’s first integration of the Wayve AI Driver in the premium segment”. The agreement also gives Wayve a route into a premium carmaker’s production architecture while Mercedes-Benz continues to use its own system and Nvidia’s model.
Mercedes-Benz backed Wayve’s $1.5 billion round
Mercedes-Benz was already an investor in Wayve before the production agreement. It joined the startup’s Series D round alongside Nissan and Stellantis. The round raised $1.5 billion and valued Wayve at $8.6 billion in February. The agreement gives Mercedes-Benz a customer relationship with a company it has also backed financially.
Nissan and Stellantis have also invested in Wayve and plan to use its AI Driver technology in their vehicles, Autoevolution reported.
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