Mercedes-Benz today announced a reference design collaboration with Athos Silicon, a specialized semiconductor company established by former engineers at Mercedes-Benz Research & Development North America, Inc. (MBRDNA). This partnership accelerates the adoption and scaling of advanced chiplet architecture originally researched at MBRDNA while supporting next-generation autonomous driving platforms across the industry. The initiative underscores Mercedes-Benz’s leadership in Silicon Valley innovation and strategic ecosystem development.
Mercedes-Benz’s forward-thinking strategy began with pioneering R&D efforts starting in 2020 at MBRDNA, where teams developed breakthrough chiplet technology for autonomous driving computing. Recognizing the technology’s broad applications beyond automotive use cases, Mercedes-Benz facilitated the formation of Athos Silicon as an independent entity to maximize the innovation’s industry impact. Mercedes-Benz contributes substantial intellectual property while enabling the technology to scale with dedicated capital from broader ecosystem partnerships. Athos Silicon’s modular mSoC™ platform delivers adaptable performance scaling, accelerated development cycles, and safety-by-design principles that position Mercedes-Benz at the forefront of the autonomous computing revolution.
“Mercedes-Benz continuously explores technologies that can advance safety, performance and automated driving. Open chiplet approaches—such as UCIe—show promise for future high-performance compute architectures. Athos Silicon, an independent company with roots in research initiated at Mercedes-Benz in 2020, will pursue its own path to develop these ideas for broader industry use.”
Markus Schäfer, Member of the Board of Management of Mercedes-Benz Group AG, Chief Technology Officer.
Mercedes-Benz has consistently pushed boundaries in automotive computing and built on this foundation of innovation. Since joining the UCIe™ Consortium in 2023 as the first automotive OEM member, the company has actively shaped industry standards for chiplet technology. The Athos Silicon collaboration further positions Mercedes-Benz as co-creator of next-generation high-performance computing standards. These standards promise to revolutionize autonomous vehicle possibilities for years ahead and create the blueprint for tomorrow’s vehicles.
SOURCE: Mercedes-Benz
