Mercedes announces multi-year partnership with Liquid AI
Mercedes-Benz recently announced a multi-year partnership with Liquid AI to advance on-board services.
A press release says that the partnership is designed to advance the performance of real-time, private, and local AI experiences for on-board services at scale. Embedded Liquid Foundations Models (LFM) will deliver fast, private, and independent AI without dependence on the cloud, the release says.
LFM will evolve the MBUX Virtual Assistant (MVA) by seamlessly integrating voice control, vehicle functionality, and contextual understanding into a more capable in-vehicle experience.
“With this strategic collaboration, we’re scaling embedded intelligence in the vehicle and improving AI speech capabilities for our customers in North America,” said Jörg Burzer, Mercedes-Benz Group AG member of the board/chief technology officer of development and procurement, in the release. “By advancing on-device speech, language understanding, and reasoning with Liquid AI, we’re laying the foundation for the next generation of intuitive and multimodal in-car experiences, with a clear path toward initial production deployment as early as the second half of 2026.”
LFM will be built onto the in-house-developed Mercedes-Benz Operating System (MB.0S) software architecture. The collaboration will deliver a more consistent experience in everyday driving situations, the release said. It is focused on low latency and high efficiency.
It adds that Liquid AI’s models support natural, conversational interaction without relying on continuous data exchange to the cloud.
“The software-defined vehicle is one of the most consequential deployments of AI in the physical world, and Mercedes‑Benz has approached it with exactly the rigor it demands,” said Ramin Hasani, Liquid AI CEO, in the release. “Working across in-car intelligence, we’re building infrastructure and not just a feature. Liquid’s models are built to run on the hardware already inside the vehicle, delivering intelligence that is fast, private, and sovereign without depending on the cloud. Mercedes‑Benz’s conviction that this is the right approach to vehicle AI matches our own.”
Stellantis and Microsoft also recently announced a five-year collaboration for AI, cybersecurity, and engineering.
The two teams will co-develop more than 100 AI initiatives across sales, customer care, operations, and driving innovation at a global scale, the release says.
Stellantis also plans to strengthen its global cyber defense center with AI-driven analytics, it says. This will help prevent cyber threats and protect vehicles, customers, and operations worldwide.
A scalable cloud modernization will also boost agility, performance, and a more interconnected digital ecosystem, with a targeted 60% reduction in data center footprint by 2029, it adds.
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Photo courtesy of Mercedes-Benz