Daimler Magazine

For decades, the state of Baden-Württemberg and the Stuttgart region in particular have been regarded as something of an automotive wonderland. It’s the place where the automobile was invented, and the automotive industry continues to be the basis of the region’s jobs and prosperity. However, the car of tomorrow will be quite different from that of today. How will this affect the region and its people? Are they prepared for the associated structural transformation, or is the entire region at risk of falling into decline?

Technological progress has greatly changed the way we drive. The electronics and electrical system on board a Mercedes-Benz makes driving safer and more comfortable than ever before. However, the new technologies have to be incorporated into cars somehow – and that’s why today’s vehicles contain numerous high-tech components. Jürgen Schwarz and his team make sure that all of this technology works flawlessly even in the event of electromagnetic interference. And they ensure that the technology is harmless to the vehicle occupants.

It’s no secret that Mercedes-Benz has a special weakness for motor racing. After all, we’re celebrating the 125th anniversary of motorsports this year. A few weeks ago, Mercedes won its sixth Formula 1 world championship in a row. But can you do motor racing without the smell of engine oil and super plus gasoline? In Season 6 (2019/20), the Mercedes-Benz EQ Formula E team will take part in the ABB FIA Formula E championship — the first all-electric racing series in the world. But why are we doing this?

The trucks are produced at the Mercedes-Benz plant in Wörth. Almost every fifth truck in the world is a "Wörther". But what makes the plant so successful? How do the employees work and live in Wörth? Three regions meet at this location and live the "Wörther spirit" to ensure the quality for which Mercedes-Benz products are known.

9 November 1989 marks the fall of the Berlin Wall, the symbol of division of Germany. On that night, people from the East and West celebrated together. Yet many citizens of East Germany had no idea how profoundly the fall of the Wall would turn their lives upside down. People like Detlef Ludwig, Thanh Nguyen Manh and Torsten Schulz. All three have one thing in common: They were there when the vehicle production plant in Ludwigsfelde, south of Berlin, changed: from a public enterprise owned by the German Democatic Republic (GDR) to a Mercedes-Benz plant. We asked them about their memories of the night the Berlin Wall came down. And what their personal turning points were.

Few people enjoy listening to lengthy eulogies of the dead. On the other hand, short eulogies seem to indicate that the speaker knows nothing about the departed person, or that this person has led his or her life far from the public eye. The Daimler Blog doesn’t fit into either of these categories.

When the Daimler research department in Sindelfingen started to take a closer look at quantum computing (QC) in 2016, we were quite surprised by how much this technology had progressed over the years. Not long after, Daimler entered into several collaborative partnerships, such as with Google, as reported in our previous blog post.

Unfold it on your lap, give directions to the driver, get lost, get into an argument. Repeat. Reading maps used to be a familiar way for us humans to get an often unnerving handle on our environment. To be fair, the game has constantly improved: from carrying a thick road atlas to printing turn-by-turn directions to the first simple arrow appearing in a car’s head unit to today’s always-on maps that tap into and tie together myriad online data sources.

Around one year ago, the nice colleagues from the Daimler Blog asked me if I would tell you something about my experiences, which I was very willing to do. Today, I once again have the opportunity to write about myself and my daily life. However, the first question I asked myself was whether I would bore my readers because I can’t really report about anything very spectacular, i.e. I once again lead a fairly normal life.

Stuttgart. I’m standing on the hill where the Mercedes-Benz Museum is located. The Volocopter has just landed after completing its first flight in a European city. Thousands of people are standing around me and cheering. What a feeling! The bicycle, the motorcycle, and the automobile were all invented here in the state of Baden-Württemberg. And they were joined in 2011 by the flying taxi known as the Volocopter.