GERMANY - The competition for autonomous driving technology is heating up. German automotive giant Mercedes-Benz is ready to launch its latest driving assistance system, MB.DRIVE ASSIST PRO in the United States (US) later this year. This means that it is ready to compete with Tesla, as the only car manufacturer to offer a similar product, called Full Self-Driving, in the US.
The system has previously been marketed in China since late last year by allowing vehicles to drive from a parking lot to a destination, navigating city intersections, turning, and obeying traffic lights.
Launching Reuters, Tuesday, January 6, Mercedes-Benz set a price of 3,950 US dollars (about Rp. 66 million) for a three-year subscription period in the US. In addition to purchasing a package, customers will also be given the option of monthly or annual subscriptions, although details of the price will only be announced later.
This move puts Mercedes in direct competition with Tesla. For comparison, Tesla's Full Self-Driving (FSD) package is currently priced at $8,000 (Rp134 million) for a one-time purchase, or $99 (Rp1.6 million) per month through a subscription scheme.
Urban environments are considered much more challenging due to pedestrians, cyclists, and other unexpected situations. To date, Tesla is the only manufacturer that allows its autonomous system to operate on city streets through the FSD system. However, Mercedes is now starting to enter the area. However, both companies insist that drivers must remain vigilant and be ready to take control at any time.
Powered by advanced hardware and Nvidia AI To handle complex city navigation, Mercedes equips this system with about 30 sensors, including cameras, radars, and ultrasonic sensors. All data is processed by a computer capable of running up to 508 trillion operations per second.
In its development, Mercedes is working with Nvidia. The latest model, the Mercedes-Benz CLA, will be the first vehicle to use the MB.OS platform. This vehicle will be powered by Nvidia's "DRIVE AV" software, AI infrastructure, and accelerated computing.
Just like Tesla. the MB.DRIVE ASSIST PRO system also supports over-the-air updates, which allow the vehicle's autonomous driving capabilities to continue to improve over time through software updates.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
