Mercedes-Benz said Thursday that it has teamed up with Google on navigation and will bring “supercomputer performance” to any vehicle equipped with self-driving sensors to compete with Tesla and Chinese startups.
New and existing automakers are racing to match the software capabilities pioneered by Tesla, which will enable upgrades in vehicle performance, battery range and remote self-driving capabilities.
The German automaker has agreed to share revenue with its self-driving software partner, semiconductor maker Nvidia Corp, from 2020 to lower the upfront cost of purchasing expensive high-power semiconductors, CEO Ola Kellenius said.
“You only pay for a heavily subsidised chip, and then figure out how to maximise joint revenue,” he said, reasoning that the sunk costs would be low even if drivers did not turn on every feature allowed by the chip.
But only customers paying for an extra option package would have cars equipped with Lidar sensor technology and other hardware for automated “Level 3” driving, which have a higher variable cost, Kaellenius said.
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