Mercedes-Benz cars will now help reach nearest COVID-19 testing centre

PTI, Jun 28, 2020, 2:31 PM IST

Mumbai: Mercedes-Benz cars in the country will now come loaded with MapmyIndia COVID-19 guide, which will help the users in getting all information related to the pandemic on a real-time basis, a release said on Friday.

The system will enable users to navigate to the nearest COVID-19 testing centres using the most updated information provided by ICMR (Indian Council for Medical Research), with the panel displaying the centre name, address and phone number upon request, it said.

The German car maker’s Bengaluru-based R&D centre, Mercedes-Benz Research and Development India (MBRDI) is also working to include coronavirus infection treatment centres and many other unique features as well in the latest system, which has been developed by engineers at MBRDI in collaboration with MapmyIndia, as the next step, said the release.

Mercedes-Benz India’s recently launched all-new S-class SUV, GLS has fully packed connected services through its latest MBUX system.

“Our infotainment team, which have a key role to play on the entire MBUX including the Interior assist & rear-seat entertainment, earlier this year was instrumental in launching another timely innovation for Korean market where the infotainment system helps in navigating to stores with N95 masks/ respirators, also,” said Manu Saale, Managing Director and CEO, MBRDI.

The technology platform for MBUX both onboard (car) & offboard (cloud backbone) is built in such a way to accelerate new services and features to the customer, he added.

These hyperlocal mapping and location intelligence features are designed to ensure that vehicle owners navigate hassle-free during the current times. This feature gets automatically activated without any hassle of paying an additional fee, it said. The information is sourced from the latest government notifications and guidelines issued from time to time, and other credible sources, as per the release.

As the number of cases continues to grow across the globe, MBRDI engineers in Bangalore have achieved this integration in a record time of two weeks, in association with MapmyIndia, it said adding the 12.3-inch infotainment system handles requests using voice commands and gestures.

“Ever since the pandemic broke out, our teams have been developing tools and solutions leveraging its best-in-class indigenously developed location technology to benefit Indians. I am happy that a leading company like Mercedes-Benz India has partnered with us in furthering this effort of ours,” said Rohan Verma, CEO and Executive Director, MapmyIndia.