Zetsche talks digital

Mercedes-Benz debuted a new C-Class Coupe, its muscled-up AMG counterpart, the first S-Class cabriolet in a generation, new plug-in hybrids and a futuristic shape-shifting show-car at this year's Frankfurt motor show.

But the focus wasn't metal... It was bytes.

In the absence of an official keynote address for the event, Daimler boss and head of Mercedes-Benz Cars used the company's show eve soiree to put a line in the silica. In the process, Dieter Zetsche set the tone for the company's next few years. If not the entire industry's... Daimler is going Big Data!

Mercedes-Benz's ConceptIAA show car was dubbed a "Digital Transformer" by the marque's spin doctors. In a departure from the normal motor show script, however, Zetsche, put aside technical details and performance claims (mostly) and spent the majority of his talk to the faithful describing and proselytising for the digital transformation the company is undergoing.

Zetsche stated Mercedes' future will be shaped by digitalisation. The economy and infrastructure network in which the company operates will be digital and therefore, so will the company's products and services. The process is well underway, he says.

"It's called Industry 4.0. Outside of Germany the name for this idea is – in my
opinion – even clearer: quite simply Digitalisation... In essence, it's about nothing more and nothing less than the complete digitalisation of the entire value chain," Zetsche stated.

From the sense of a practical application of the technology, Zetsche referred to the fast-tracking of Mercedes' research and development via digitalisation. By way of example, Concept IAA was developed in less than 10 months, he said.

Mercedes' R&D engineers used virtual modelling for multiple aspects of the car. In addition, like F1 teams, 3D printing was used for aspects of its production development.

 "Never before did we develop a car as quickly as we did this one [ConceptIAA].

"[With] More precision: 300 prototype variants were calculated in around one million CPU hours. That equates to roughly the same as a normal [much longer] production development process," Zetsche commented.

"In production, it [digitalisation] means that [production] plants will become 'smart factories'. Equipment and components will be seamlessly networked. Production processes will increasingly control themselves.

"People and robots will truly work together: When the task is too awkward or strenuous for the individual, the robot will seamlessly take over. And not like today, strictly separated by fencing.

"We're aspiring to free-range robots, too," he quipped.

Data and the ability to generate it from its worldwide customer base is one of Mercedes-Benz' key strengths, Zetsche suggested.

"Our advantage is that we continue to earn money on the hardware. Customers pay for our products with money, not with personal data.

"In contrast to some IT companies, we are not dependent on making a profit from data. Quite the opposite, in fact. We can use the information exclusively to offer customers – and nobody else – even more individual and even better service. And with that, an even more attractive product."

But Daimler's digitalisation will have even bigger impacts, Zetsche posited. Perhaps even an expansion beyond vehicle manufacturing.

"The digital transformation is in full swing. Mercedes-Benz is changing from being an automaker to being a networked mobility service provider," he explained.

"The more diverse people's lives become, the more diverse their expectations. Especially when it's not about muesli, but about a Mercedes.

"That's why we are currently making Mercedes-Benz mobility even simpler, more seamless and more individual. Today, it's convenient to reserve and pay for a car2go via smartphone. It would be even more convenient if the reserved car2go drove itself to you autonomously.

"And it would surely be extremely practical if the car2go was there waiting for you unrequested as soon as the appointment in your diary comes to an end.

"All of these are puzzle pieces on which we're working," Zetsche explained.

"As the world's biggest provider of car sharing, we're also learning every day how flexible mobility works in practice.

"I don't think it takes much fantasy to see that this combination of strengths will enable some very attractive business models in future – for our customers and for us," he hinted.