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Mercedes Benz’s first OS to come out of Bengaluru: CTO
Mercedes plans to launch an electric vehicle based on the Concept CLA Class in India by 2025.
Munich: India is a key part of Mercedes Benz’s research & development (R&D) network, contributing to not only software development but also to electronics and hardware, said Markus Schäfer, chief technology officer of the German luxury carmaker.
Mercedes Benz’s first operating system, MB.OS, which will be ready for production in 2024, has been conceived mainly at the company’s 9,000-member R&D centre in Bengaluru. The company’s CEO, Ola Kallenius, said that the luxury carmaker will launch its Concept CLA, showcased at the IAA Munich Motor Show, in 2025, the same year as its European debut. Mercedes Benz is spending $7 billion a year on its vehicles R&D, over 60% of which already goes into green mobility, Schafer said in an interview.
“The talent pool we have in India is extraordinary. We get great recommendations all the time that explain why more work should go to India. For the first time now, we at Mercedes Benz have an operating system, and a large part of it comes from Bengaluru. Now Bengaluru is involved in every component — hardware, software, electric and electronics, and during the semiconductor crisis when we had to redesign our electronic control units (ECUs), it was very much with the help of people in India”, Schäfer said.
Mercedes Benz is also hiring thousands of software developers and engineers across its global R&D locations to help build its first MB.OS in-house. “Mercedes-Benz... is working worldwide to introduce our own data-driven and flexibly updatable operating system, starting 2024: MB.OS - the Mercedes-Benz Operating System. In this way, we want to intelligently connect the vehicle with the cloud and the Internet of Things (IoT) world”, the company said.
(The reporter was at the IAA 2023 in Munich at the invitation of Mercedes Benz India Ltd.)
Concept CLA Class India entry by 2025
The electric vehicle (EV) based on Mercedes’ new Concept CLA Class will be launched in India in the later half of 2025, followed by its European debut in the first half, Ola Källenius, the chairman of the board of management of Mercedes-Benz Group AG, said.
The decision underscores the country’s growing significance as a high-end luxury car market for the Stuttgart-based automaker, which seeks to transition a quarter of its sales to EVs by 2027.
The company is also planning to launch a compact version of its G-Class sports utility vehicle (SUV) named the ‘little G’. “There will be a smaller G. We understand the responsibility it entails. We have some very big shoes to fill there, so be assured, that the little G will be electric,” Källenius said.
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Business NewsAuto NewsMercedes Benz’s first OS to come out of Bengaluru: CTO
First Published:5 Sep 2023, 12:15 AM IST
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