Mercedes-Benz taps Liquid AI for on-device in-car AI

Mercedes-Benz has signed a multi-year partnership with US-based Liquid AI to embed on-device generative AI models in Mercedes-Benz vehicles fitted with third- and fourth-generation MBUX in North America. The companies are targeting initial production deployment in the second half of 2026, focused on in-car voice and language interaction.

Liquid Foundation Models (LFM) will run directly on the vehicle, processing speech recognition, language understanding and reasoning locally without cloud dependence. The capability is delivered through the MBUX Virtual Assistant and built on the in-house Mercedes-Benz Operating System (MB.OS).

In a statement, Jörg Burzer, Chief Technology Officer for Development & Procurement at Mercedes-Benz Group AG, said: “With this strategic collaboration, we’re scaling embedded intelligence in the vehicle and improving AI speech capabilities for our customers in North America. By advancing on-device speech, language understanding and reasoning with Liquid AI, we’re laying the foundation for the next generation of intuitive and multimodal in-car experiences.”

Ramin Hasani, Chief Executive of Liquid AI, added: “The software-defined vehicle is one of the most consequential deployments of AI in the physical world, and Mercedes-Benz has approached it with exactly the rigour it demands. Liquid’s models are built to run on the hardware already inside the vehicle, delivering intelligence that is fast, private and sovereign without depending on the cloud.”

Source: Mercedes-Benz