The code for automotive fascination

MB.OS, the Mercedes-Benz Operating System, is the direct interface between customer requirements and the driving experience. The software platform developed in-house at Mercedes-Benz is already the digital basis for all future Mercedes-Benz vehicles. It links the four vehicle domains infotainment, autonomous driving, body & comfort systems and drivetrain more consistently.

Complexity is increasing throughout the product life cycle as the interaction of hardware and software creates new challenges: shorter iteration cycles require different development speeds and sampling processes than hardware.

Expert knowledge from a single source
We at Mercedes-Benz Tech Motion have made it our business to find overarching solutions for challenges and the interaction of software and hardware processes. For example, we are actively involved in the design of a product data management system for electrical and electronic components, in which we contribute our methodological knowledge to the fault elimination process. Cloud-based structures will become the center of our value chain in the future, which is why we accompany the transfer of existing systems for the documentation of electrical/electronic and software scopes into these new structures. Our spectrum is rounded off by the methodical development of tools for wiring harness development, which connects the future ECU architecture, as well as the functional testing - manual and automated - of the end-2-end software journeys in the MB.OS portal from the user perspective.

Data-supported and interactive
With the expertise of the Virtual Engineering division, we as Mercedes-Benz Tech Motion are an essential part of the large development team of MB.OS, especially in the field of infotainment. This includes, for example, in-car augmented reality, technical UI/UX design in the instrument display, but also the generation of 2D and 3D content for in-vehicle visualization. We use the latest game engine technologies for even better 3D renderings, e.g. for AR navigation. With computer vision algorithms and AI processes, we can respond even more specifically to drivers' individual requirements, making the interaction between human and vehicle a literally moving experience.

More than the sum of all data

Simply put, a digital twin describes the digital image of objects in the real world. These can be physical things like machines and vehicles, but also non-physical things like processes and services. In essence, the twin behaves like its real counterpart, so changes and optimizations to the digital image also affect the real object at the same time. With increasing networking, for example through sensors and the exact reproduction of properties of the real system, the digital twins are becoming more and more accurate. The most accurate possible representation of reality by the digital twin is enormously important for planning or for processes in production.

For this reason, we do not speak of the one digital twin, but see the coexistence of different digital twins of products, processes, plants. These can be grouped into three overarching categories: The digital twin as a product, as a production replica and as an replica of the entire life cycle. This is based on the fact that simply mapping the product as a digital twin is not enough. Only by taking a holistic view and understanding the interaction between product and production along the entire life cycle can the aforementioned accuracy be guaranteed and overarching optimization made possible.

Digital Twin PRODUCT – for excitement and high quality standards

Our goal is nothing less than to impress with all products and services as a whole. This requires going beyond the current state of the art and providing a solution that creates a comprehensive user experience while guaranteeing high-quality products and services. With the digital twin, changes to the product and prototype phases can be shortened significantly, resources can be conserved and optimizations can be completed much faster – simply by carrying them out and testing them directly in the digital world. A new vehicle can also be experienced in advance with various equipment variants in the corresponding virtual reality applications.

Our expertise: many years of expertise in the vehicle and service environment in both the real and digital world.

Digital Twin PRODUCTION – for smooth manufacturing

Closely linked to the vehicle is its production, and this interplay continues in the digital world. The digital twins of production not only precisely reflect the individual steps and equipment of manufacturing, but also deal with the entire planning and development of the equipment and systems. This means that individual, repetitive processes can be automated and thus executed much faster. Automation also reduces the susceptibility to errors and workflows can be designed optimally for employees. As a result, both the quality of the planning and of the production itself are increased.

Our expertise: Implementation of a tailor-made digital transformation through our many years of experience in planning and production.

Digital Twin LIFECYCLE – for a successful customer relationship

The first step in the production of a vehicle rarely begins in the plant itself, but with the procurement and purchasing of the individual parts. Our consideration phase of a vehicle does not end with the handover to the customer. Instead, we look at the entire life cycle of a vehicle and accompany the vehicle digitally from the first screw to its last kilometer. In addition to holistic optimization, repair measures can thus also be better planned and failures reduced. This not only increases safety, but can also lead to a longer service life for the vehicle - which in turn protects the environment.

Our expertise: in-depth expertise in sales/after-sales combined with digitization knowledge.

Turning data into experiences

With the development of the XR platform, we are creating all Extended Reality (XR) technologies for numerous specialist units of the Mercedes-Benz Group: Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) and Mixed Reality (MR).

In recent years, the importance of these technologies has increased significantly, and Mercedes-Benz also has many applications that take advantage of them: for example, for the training of fitters or for the presentation and demonstration of products at trade fairs, for example, because augmented reality promises to visualize content by inserting digital values into the real environment, so allowing it to be experienced hands-free.

The XR platform has interfaces to the common Mercedes-Benz systems and stores the displayed content in a cloud. These are instantly usable on many XR devices worldwide, such as tablets and digital glasses. In this way, the XR platform can be used to implement and network applications across the entire value chain.

For XR technologies, which help to run through prototype construction step by step in engineering, also support assembly training for employees in production, for example. The virtual representation of all vehicle variants is just as helpful for engineers during product development as it is for end customers when configuring the vehicle. Whether it's for the exact positioning of individual components, e.g. control units and lines, or for simulations, both the engineering staff and the after-sales workshop benefit from this facility. Thus, there are countless use cases for AR, VR and MR, which become accessible to all departments and employees through the XR platform - tailored to individual needs and as easy to use as PowerPoint.

Seamless conservation of resources

On the road to CO2 neutrality, the optimization of supply chains is of enormous importance in the Mercedes-Benz Group. Digitization and automation are just as essential - both have long since become indispensable in logistics processes. With our product pactrisPRO we go one step further: we have the aspiration to change the logistics of tomorrow effectively and sustainably for Mercedes-Benz today.

With the pactrisPRO software, we control logistics with the help of a self-developed AI technology that optimizes freight space utilization in real time. In highly simplified terms: we play Tetris with cargo pieces. All parts are assembled in a puzzle-like manner so that the available space is filled in the best possible way. To do this, the software scans loading lists of trucks and dynamically checks possibilities to fill them up to the maximum or reschedule the load. Ideally, we should be able to reduce the actual number of truck trips in this way. To achieve this optimum, everyone involved in the supply chain is given clear instructions - from suppliers to freight forwarders to forklift drivers who stock the freight bays.

In our consolidation center in Speyer, pactrisPRO already handles the entire control of the shopfloor process. At this point, all components from supplier companies come together, and they are then distributed to the foreign plants via containers. By means of a virtual twin, pactrisPRO detects inconsistencies and automatically and dynamically adjusts the planning. In this way, the capacity of the containers is used to the maximum, transportation costs are minimized and by extension important resources such as CO2 are conserved.