Did people in Stuttgart wear flowers in their hair back then? It's not really recorded. The fact is: Mercedes-Benz is currently celebrating an anniversary. We have been based in Silicon Valley for 20 years now. The legendary valley, not far from San Francisco, in the middle of California, where, according to Albert Hammond, it never rains. And Scott McKenzie recommended the flower in the hair, because in San Francisco, there you can feel a very special “vibration” and the “people, yes, they would be on the move,” whatever he meant by that. One thing is clear: standing still is not something you can blame the people of the sunny state for. And in Silicon Valley the whole spirit of “just do it, fresh ideas, the start-up mentality” is compressed.
It's just a very special corporate culture that you can feel. You never actually look back, you look into the future. And “to fail” is not a flaw, but a usable experience. And then as a company you take a quote from an ice hockey player to heart!
A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be.
And you are drawn to where the “puck” will be.
Whenever something “big” was founded in a garage, 3 out of 4 times, that garage was in Silicon Valley. The Swabians at Daimler, of all people, recognized this early on. Maybe because Gottfried Daimler also invented the automobile in a garage back then? The garage, true to the Swabian homeland, was not a garage, but a garden house.
The Internet hadn't yet arrived on smartphones, in fact there weren't even smartphones, and Mercedes-Benz had already set the course. The Internet was still something for the “big gray boxes” in the offices. Mobile was not something people associated with the “net”. But you shouldn't miss what's happening in Silicon Valley. You didn't want to miss anything either. And history proves them right. Establishing a “branch” in Paolo Alto 20 years ago was the right decision. This made the traditional Mercedes-Benz group the first automobile manufacturer to seek proximity to Silicon Valley.
Today Mercedes-Benz has a Research & Development Center in Sunnyvale. Up to 240 people work and research on the future of the automobile. Within shouting distance of the giants of the Internet, Google, Apple, Yahoo, Intel, AMD, Adobe, eBay and so on, and so on. This calling distance is helpful. Just stop by Apple and discuss the integration of software and hardware, or do some programming straight away? Just exchange ideas? Meet for an “organic-organic-caffe-latte-mocha-anyway” and initiate projects? When it comes to the “digital way of life”, it happens like this, at this speed, with this “simplicity”, only in Silicon Valley. You have to be there or you'll miss something.
Mercedes-Benz recognized this earlier than other manufacturers. 20 years on site, an anniversary that shows this “open-mindedness”. And an advantage that is slowly paying off and could become even more important for the future of the Swabian automobile manufacturer. Cars are closing smartphones on wheelsis a popular metaphor these days. And even if cars will never become smartphones, but rather a “second digital home” – this future requires collaboration between those who “can do cars” and those who “can do the network”. People will have to move closer together, overcome digital hurdles and sooner or later the network will be part of the automobile, just as fuel is part of the engine today.
Autonomous driving
“Autonomous driving” is easier to research in the USA than here. The problems in ethics remain the same. How should the car react in a dangerous situation? Child, dog, cyclist? Where does the car move autonomously if it becomes unavoidable? And how much lawlessness is allowed? Crossing a solid line because an obstacle is blocking the lane? Be the only one obeying the speed limit? Many questions still remain unanswered. At Mercedes-Benz in Sunnyvale, they don't just research technology. They are also working with philosophers from Stanford University - because the ethics of an “autonomous automobile” cannot simply be dealt with based on legal texts.
Autonomous driving is within reach - we were with one last year “autonomously driving” S-Class mitgefahren. These self-driving cars are still a case for research. But not for long. The technology is now likely to be further than the legislation.
Artificial intelligence
The cars of the future must be able to learn. If the “autonomous automobile” is to be understood as intelligent, then it must go beyond trust in the technology. Then the automobile of the future must also be able to learn. And that goes far beyond what we currently imagine. The fact that the transmission software and engine control adapt to the driving operation is simply kindergarten compared to what the car of the future has to learn.
What does the driver want? How do we plan clever routes? What mood is the driver in? What will he do next? Music, light, smell - the car of the future will have to fill gaps in needs that are not yet foreseeable today.
The car will become a natural hotspot. Just another link in the interconnectedness of our everyday lives. It will know when we need our rest, it will understand when the driver can casually take calls from the office. It will depend on how we understand operations and their interface as “intuitive”. But it will also learn how we drive. It will recognize patterns in our behavior. Know the destination, know whether we are relaxed at the moment.
Boost by Benz
Until then, Mercedes-Benz is also researching start-up ideas and simply implementing the Silicon Valley ingenuity itself. Boost by Benz is such an idea. For example, Mercedes-Benz is researching how an “on demand” shuttle can be better organized using computing power, smart apps and GPS route guidance. The “Boost by Benz” fleet is currently using 6 Mercedes Sprinters to relieve the burden on parents in Silicon Valley. Take the kids to school, home from school or to sport or another leisure activity? This is where “Boost by Benz” comes in. For parents, the not-so-cheap service is a tool to replace the virtually non-existent public transport in Silicon Valley. For $22 (on way - single booking) you can book a shuttle. The start, finish and times can be booked via the app or online, and at the same time the “Boost by Benz” can be located with your protégé at any time on the mobile phone app. Where are the kids? Already arrived? Boost by Benz also wants to strengthen trust in the service because trust is important whenever you entrust your children to others. The brand name Mercedes-Benz should definitely be of help.
Now one could rightly criticize: typical US solution. Where there is no public transport, and this applies to the USA, as soon as you leave the mega-cities on the east and west coasts, you need a car. Both parents work, then a private solution is needed to provide for the offspring. So business ideas arise in the niche. In this case, a shuttle service for “rich kids”. Because $22 for a one-way trip quickly adds up to $400 – $800 a month. That has to be earned first. In Silicon Valley and the Bay Area around San Francisco, the density of billionaires is higher than anywhere else - but is that the point of a community?
But Mercedes-Benz also wants to see “Boost by Benz” as a “concept proof” for dynamic route guidance as a solution for public transport providers. Enormous computing power, GPS data and smartphones could, with the right app, change the public transport of the future. Timetables and fixed routes – perhaps soon a thing for the history books? Until then, the idea will first be tested in the start-up.
Graphics power like in a gaming computer
In addition to “trying out” an idea like “Boost by Benz”, founding start-ups as an experiment, the biggest advantage is the proximity to the global players in the digital industry. A good example of the cooperation of the future will soon be seen on German roads. When Mercedes-Benz unveils the new E-Class in Detroit in January, the E-Class's "data center" will also contain a chip whose computing power a few years ago would have required a data center the size of a city block. Data center power consumption and cooling would have consumed 1 million watts of electricity. The nVidia Tegra X1 is a 64-bit mobile processor with the computing power of a super computer. 256 computing units for the graphics side, 8 processor units for the CPU side and a power consumption of around 10 watts make this chip the first choice for current smartphone generations. In the future, this computing power will provide graphics and computing performance in the cockpit of the new E-Class. The supercomputer in the cockpit – probably the first step towards the envisioned convergence between automobiles and “Silicon Valley”.
Despite all the changes that will affect cars and mobility in the future, one thing is important to understand: digitalization offers opportunities. Opportunities that you have to take advantage of. In order to understand this opportunity, accept the tasks and deal with the challenges, you have to be active where the “digital future is being shaped. Mercedes-Benz has been doing this for 20 years.