Mercedes CEO Talks SDVs and 30 Years in Silicon Valley

February 5, 2025

Roberto Baldwin

Mercedes-Benz CEO Ola Källenius with a prototype EQS electric sedan. (Mercedes-Benz)

Nestled in a commercial park in Sunnyvale, California, sits the Mercedes-Benz research and development North America Office. A spinning star sits in the front of the building. It is one of six locations across North America and joins research facilities in Asia and Europe.

During a recent media roundtable, Mercedes-Benz CEO Ola Källenius told journalists that the original purpose for the facility 30 years ago was because it recognized that Silicon Valley was a unique place where top academia meets with venture capital and where smart people from around the world gather. "So the very first intent with the first few baby steps of coming to Silicon Valley was like, it's almost like you send out a group of people to do reconnaissance, create contact, be part of the conversation, and figure out what's going on," Källenius said.

In the past three decades, computers and sensors have become a more integral part of automobiles. Software is now one of the biggest obstacles facing the deployment of a new car. To reduce some of those headaches, Mercedes is working on its own operating system for future vehicles. The upcoming CLA with MB.OS will be the first software-defined vehicle (SDV) from the German automaker.

Mercedes previewed the next-generation CLA with an electric concept at the Munich Motor Show in 2023. (Mercedes-Benz)

The SDV will be built from the ground up by Mercedes with integrations to third-party products handled by the operating system as opposed to trying to wrangle dozens of software integrations that don't always talk to one another.

To that end, Källenius shared that Mercedes will integrate the Google Maps Platform into the MBUX digital assistant. The system will use Google Cloud’s new Automotive AI Agent based on the Google Gemini AI technology. It joins ChatGPT as a part of the Mercedes virtual assistant.

Källenius noted that the competing AI systems will be handled by MB.OS. When a query comes in, the Mercedes operating system will determine whether Gemini or ChatGPT will handle determining the answer. For those concerned about privacy, Google says that it will not share personal data with either third-party company.

"If you're in a Mercedes, you're fully and totally inside the Mercedes world," the CEO said. Mercedes owners will have their Mercedes Me account, and that's the only system they need to log into to use any of the vehicle's functions.

The integration will be launched on the CLA when it hits the road later this year and will be rolled out to other Mercedes vehicles over time. Källenius said it affects all the cars that have been sold in recent years. Older vehicles will have access to most of the features, although MB.OS 1.0 will have the full version. The CLA being launched this year is the first car that has this functionality fundamentally built in from the ground up. Plus, it will ship with a new 800-volt electronic architecture with a comprehensive, holistic software stack with different domains. Plus, it supports OTA (over-the-air) updates.

As for other OEMs also partnering with Google, Källenius isn't concerned. The CEO sees Mercedes as a trailblazer in this regard, "You need to have an adventurous OEM that is willing to push the boundaries." Källenius added, "If others benefit from that down the road, that's fine. From this point forward, every Mercedes will have a supercomputer in it. Every Mercedes will have a full sensor suite."