Mercedes-Benz Partners with ByteDance for AI Integration

The German automotive giant Mercedes-Benz has formed a partnership with ByteDance’s cloud division, Volcano Engine, to collaborate on artificial intelligence. This was reported by SCMP. 

The companies have signed a memorandum of strategic cooperation in the fields of big data, large language models (LLM), and artificial intelligence. The deal involves applying the AI technology underlying TikTok’s owner in Mercedes’ automotive systems in China. 

The firms aim to enhance future in-car virtual assistants using LLM capabilities, reduce voice system response times, and expand user interaction options. 

Mercedes-Benz plans to strengthen the collaboration initiated in 2023 with Volcano Engine and increase investments in research and development in China to modernize its intelligent vehicle management system. 

In June 2023, Mercedes-Benz announced the integration of AI in over 900,000 vehicles as part of a new trial of a ChatGPT-based voice assistant system.

Back in March 2024, the automotive company began exploring the potential use of Apollo robots in its factories.