Mercedes-Benz Research & Development North America Funds Educational Initiatives in AI and Automated Driving at Stanford and University of California San Diego
2024年5月3日 - 2:00AM
ビジネスワイヤ(英語)
- Mercedes-Benz’s strategic funding for Stanford School of
Engineering will enable a total of 15 graduate students to conduct
hands-on, real-world research in the field of AI and its
application in the automotive industry
- UC San Diego’s groundbreaking 3D imaging research led by
professor Henrik I. Christensen allows Mercedes-Benz Research &
Development North America (MBRDNA) to tap into the state-of-the-art
institutional research resources at the Autonomous Vehicle
Laboratory
Mercedes-Benz Research & Development North America, Inc.
(MBRDNA), a Silicon Valley-headquartered research and development
subsidiary of Mercedes-Benz, has started new research
collaborations with two universities: 1. Stanford University School
of Engineering; and 2. the University of California San Diego’s
Contextual Robotics Institute. MBRDNA has earmarked a six-month
funding initiative aimed at advancing the research of AI and its
potential to elevate in-car passenger experience and autonomous
driving.
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Stanford students will have the chance to
explore artificial intelligence technology integration while
working on the NTG-7 hyperscreen test bench (Photo: Business
Wire)
Both universities are poised to gain enhanced research
prospects, resources, and real-world applications through close
collaboration with MBRDNA’s engineers. MBRDNA expects to gain
potential innovations emerging from these collaborations.
New Research Horizons for Stanford Students
Stanford, recognized as one of the cradles of AI innovation
since the establishment of the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Lab
(SAIL) in the 1950s, has been chosen by MBRDNA as a key enabler in
advancing the AI-driven passenger experience. Fifteen Stanford
students enrolled in Course Project-Based Design, Innovation and
Development will have the opportunity to embark on field trips to
two global hubs of innovation at Mercedes-Benz: 1. MBRDNA’s
headquarters in Silicon Valley, California; and 2. Mercedes-Benz’s
global headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany.
The academic challenge presented to the students is related to
the MBUX Virtual Assistant announced at CES 2024, for which
Mercedes-Benz has used advanced software and generative AI to
create an even more natural and intuitive relationship with the
car. For instance, the software can offer helpful suggestions based
on learned behavior and situational context. Divided into three
teams, Stanford students are formulating project ideas with
expansive scope, exploring the full spectrum of possibilities with
AI, from optimizing the productivity of customers’ daily commutes
to addressing the challenging task of parking, and refining a
personalized in-car voice assistant powered by fine-tuned large
language models.
“Mercedes-Benz’s educational collaborations
with Stanford and UCSD are more than a financial funding
commitment; they underscore our dedication to fostering the next
generation of leaders in the tech space. We look forward to the
discoveries and advancements that will emerge from our
collaboration.” Philipp Skogstad, President and CEO at
Mercedes-Benz Research & Development North America
“We’re grateful to MBRDNA for their support
that provides students with experiential learning opportunities,
particularly as they relate to the possibilities that AI enables in
the automotive sector,” said Jay Borenstein, lecturer for
Stanford’s Project-Based Design, Innovation and Development
course.
Leading 3D Imaging Research at UC San Diego
Strengthening MBRDNA’s commitment to academic institutions is
the newly expanded research scope with the Contextual Robotics
Institute at the University of California San Diego Jacobs School
of Engineering. Led by Institute Director and UC San Diego Computer
Science Professor Henrik I. Christensen, the research team’s
Autonomous Vehicle Laboratory (AVL) focuses on perception and
fusion for automated driving, particularly on 3D scene
reconstruction from camera images, which could ultimately
contribute to the safety features of our AV systems. The objective
of this project is to initiate an effort building on prior work
from Christensen’s lab and integrate it with a real-time 4D Neural
Radiance Fields (NERFs) model to build a model segmented into
semantically meaningful regions.
“We are very excited to join forces with
Mercedes Benz Research North America to expand our work on dynamic
scene models for autonomous driving,” Professor Hendrik I.
Christensen said. “This is a great opportunity for us to broaden
our approach and also build a new alliance.”
The collaboration is built on MBRDNA’s strong and active link
with the UC San Diego community. Besides the newly established
research interest in autonomous driving, MBRDNA’s Powertrain
Organization collaborates with the UC San Diego Sustainable Power
and Energy Center with a specific interest in building enhanced
battery research.
Mercedes-Benz made history as the first automotive company to
have a research and development arm – MBRDNA - in Silicon Valley.
Since its establishment, MBRDNA has forged research collaborations
with universities and key researchers across the country that have
led to joint publications and recruitment opportunities. MBRDNA is
a key part of Mercedes-Benz’s global network for digital
transformation, brought ground-breaking tech partnerships on the
way, and established a strong technological moat to support the
company’s path forward to be the most desirable tech luxury
brand.
About MBRDNA
As a U.S.-based research and development subsidiary of
Mercedes-Benz, Mercedes-Benz Research & Development North
America (MBRDNA) is responsible for the development of advanced
technologies spanning autonomous driving, electric vehicles,
connected car solutions, and software development, among other
areas of focus. MBRDNA currently employs more than 600 developers,
technicians, engineers, and designers who collaborate closely with
Mercedes-Benz R&D facilities around the globe.
Learn more about current topics and events related to MBRDNA on
our @Mercedes-Benz Research & Development North America, Inc.
LinkedIn channel at https://www.linkedin.com/company/mbrdna/. Learn
more about our open positions at https://jobs.lever.co/MBRDNA.
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Yifei Wu, phone:+1 669 4546758, yifei.wu@mercedes-benz.com