(Yicai) Aug. 13 -- Mercedes-Benz China Investment and ByteDance's cloud services unit are teaming up on smart cockpit innovations and other technological areas such as large language models, generative artificial intelligence and Big Data.

Beijing Volcano Engine Technology and Mercedes-Benz China will join forces on smart cockpit research and development to enhance smart cockpits' ability to search information online, increase their response speed and expand intelligent application scenarios, according to the memorandum for strategic co-operation recently signed between the two parties.

China's innovation vigor in the digital sector has provided Mercedes-Benz China with fantastic development opportunities, Executive Vice-President Wang Xin said. Mercedes-Benz will continue to expand its tie-ups with leading Chinese tech firms and remains committed to bringing Chinese clients a deluxe digital experience at 'China Speed'.

Volcano Engine boasts powerful technical strengths, including Doubao, a LLM developed by ByteDance, said President Tan Dai. Volcano Engine will fully leverage its advantages in cloud computing, LLMs, AI and other aspects to explore innovations in the smart cockpit area with Benz.

The pair first started working together last year, when Mercedes-Benz China installed a Volcano Engine app, which aggregates platforms under Beijing-based ByteDance such as Douyin, video-sharing platform Xigua and news portal Jinri Toutiao.

And last July, Stuttgart-based Mercedes Benz said it is testing ChatGPT to accelerate the use of smart tools in its MO360 digital production ecosystem, which was first introduced in 2020.

More than 190 LLMs had been registered with the regulator in China and made available to the public, according to Xinhua yesterday, citing an official from the Cyberspace Administration of China. Apart from Mercedes-Benz China, over 10 carmakers such as Changan Automobile, BYD and Xpeng Motors also install LLMs on their autos.

Editor: Kim Taylor