Mercedes-Benz teams up with TikTok owner ByteDance on AI technology for in-car systems
- At a time when Western tech firms like Apple and Dell are moving some of their supply chain out of China, Mercedes-Benz vowed its ongoing commitment to China
Mercedes-Benz has struck a partnership with the cloud unit of ByteDance, which owns popular short video apps TikTok and Douyin, for “cooperation and exploration” of large language models (LLMs), generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) and big data.
The deal would include the application of ByteDance’s LLMs, the technology that powers GenAI applications like ChatGPT, to Mercedes-Benz’ in-car systems in China, according to statements issued Tuesday by both the German firm and ByteDance’s cloud unit Volcano Engine.
The two companies said they will work to “make future virtual assistants [of the vehicle] smarter and more knowledgeable with the help of LLM’s capabilities of intent understanding and logical reasoning”. The partnership also aims to “improve the response time of the voice system” and “expand the user cases in voice [interaction], navigation and entertainment”, the statements said.
At a time when Western tech firms like Apple and Dell are moving some of their supply chain out of China, Mercedes-Benz vowed its ongoing commitment to China. The German company’s China executive vice-president Wang Xin said in the statement that the firm “is increasing its research and development investment in China” and “continues to expand and deepen its cooperation with leading Chinese technology companies”.
Mercedes-Benz said it would “expand the collaboration” with Volcano Engine in the future. Cooperation between the two firms dates back to 2023, when ByteDance’s Volcano Cheyu app – which gives passengers access to its Douyin short video and Jinri Toutiao news apps – was made available on the Mercedes-Benz E-class, long wheelbase model in China.
The latest deal comes a week after the German carmaker received approval from Beijing to conduct level-4 autonomous driving tests on the city’s roads and expressways, the first international carmaker to obtain such a permit in the Chinese capital.
ByteDance, which has made AI development one of its priorities since OpenAI’s ChatGPT changed the game when it was launched in November 2022, has been promoting the Doubao LLM family, which was launched in May with prices lower than its peers.
