From TechCrunch: Mercedes-Benz and Google have struck a long-term partnership designed to give the German automaker control over its IP and marketplace while offering drivers navigation, maps and YouTube provided by the tech giant.
It’s an unusual deal that attempts to strike a Goldilocks-type balance between offering the Google services consumers want without ceding control over the entire operating system in the car.
“This is a licensing agreement that is a ‘win-win’ for both parties,” Mercedes-Benz CEO Ola Källenius said during a press briefing Wednesday during an event at its research and development center in Sunnyvale, California. “We’re the full architects of the stack.”
Calling it a licensing agreement is accurate, but perhaps downplays the relationship. The partnership will bring the Google Maps platform, Cloud and YouTube into future Mercedes-Benz vehicles equipped with the automaker’s next-generation operating system called MB.OS. Mercedes will have access to Google’s geospatial offering, including detailed information about places, real-time and predictive traffic information and automatic rerouting. Mercedes-Benz will use Google Maps data to enable assisted driving features such as automatic speed adjustments before intersections, roundabouts or curves.
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