German automaker Mercedes-Benz has entered a partnership with NVIDIA to deliver software-defined vehicles with autonomous driving functions.

Under the partnership, all Mercedes-Benz vehicles to be produced from 2024 will be equipped with software-defined computing architecture to enable automated driving.

The vehicles will feature several safety and convenience applications, as well as be capable of driving regular routes autonomously.

As agreed, these next-generation cars will be powered by the NVIDIA DRIVE AGX Orin platform and will feature multiple processing engines and sensors.

NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang said: “This is the biggest partnership of its kind in the transportation industry.

“We’re breaking ground on several different fronts, from technology to business models, and I can’t imagine a better company to do this with than Mercedes-Benz.”

The collaboration will also facilitate the process of integrating and updating the vehicle with new software features as they are developed.

According to the company, the users will be able to receive and install regular software updates, similar to the way smartphones are updated.

Mercedes-Benz CEO Ola Källenius said: “This is a field that has so many opportunities, it will make driving much safer on the road to fully autonomous driving.

“By using an architecture from NVIDIA that makes it possible to update through the life of the vehicle, there will be endless possibilities.”

According to Reuters, Mercedes-Benz sold 2.39 million cars last year worldwide.

Recently, Japan’s Toyota partnered with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to advance autonomous driving research.