Mercedes aims to shorten vehicle development significantly with AI

Mercedes wants to develop new vehicles significantly faster and is relying more heavily on artificial intelligence to do so. The group is investing around half a billion euros in PLM.AI, a new system for Product Lifecycle Management. It is intended to shorten the development time of new vehicles by around 17 months or up to 30 percent. For individual processes, Mercedes is even aiming to halve development time. According to the company, there should be no compromises on quality and safety.

PLM.AI is intended to connect departments

The system is intended to link development, production, purchasing, sales and after-sales across the entire product lifecycle. The aim is to bring data and processes together more closely, reduce complexity and bring new technologies into series production faster. The move also comes in the context of the faster development pace of the Chinese auto industry, to which European manufacturers have to respond.

Mercedes cites weight optimization as an example. Until now, different departments have sometimes worked with different data and systems. Artificial intelligence is intended to make it visible more quickly what consequences technical changes have for costs, safety and production. In after-sales, product, service and operating data could be linked to make processes more efficient. Mercedes already uses AI agents in product development, including for optimizing material costs, certification and approval processes, error detection and correction, and software development.

Partners and data sovereignty

For PLM.AI, Mercedes is working with Contact Software and Siemens. Both companies are supplying components for the new technology. Mercedes is managing the implementation itself. The manufacturer wants to retain full data sovereignty and also secure control over the AI models based on it.