Thank you for staying so late. I know it's already 6.30 here in Berlin, and I'm happy

to see many of you here. So I'm going to talk today about the future which we can already see basically by looking at the right places in the world. One of them actually being the Silicon Valley in the San Francisco Bay area, which you can see

actually here on this picture with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background. So the future is already here, it's just not equally distributed. It was actually set by a Canadian-American writer, and I actually believe this is actually true, and by

looking at the Silicon Valley, for example, where the digital lifestyle revolution has started and has taken over the world, basically all of us, our lives and how we interact, how we communicate, how we socialize. And I want to give you a brief introduction about the Silicon Valley for those of you which haven't been there,

which have not had the experience yet actually to either work there or be there at least for visiting, then to look at what kind of trends actually were born there and what actual trends are driving, especially us now, also from the mobility side, and all

actually other automotive OEMs. Now, looking at the Silicon Valley, just a few topics here. This is a geographical region where the Silicon Valley is in the Bay Area. If you haven't been there yet, I can just welcome you. I'm there now

since three and a half years I live in the Silicon Valley, work in Palo Alto, live in Redwood City, basically between the airport and work, about 20 minutes each way, and it's just a wonderful place to work, to live, and you will actually see why. One of the

reasons being actually the weather. I mean, you might think it's funny actually to even mention the weather, but it's actually true. If you look at the comparison here between Frankfurt and Palo Alto, and the average basically over the year also for precipitation, it actually has an influence, and there have been studies actually been done about this,

been made about this, that it has an influence on the creativity, on basically how people live and work, and act, and, of course, you know, with beautiful sceneries nearby with 17 Mile Drive, Monterey, Napa, Sonoma Valley, Lake Taco, it's all very close by, so actually

the lifestyle being lived there in the area is also actually having a positive influence on people. Now, looking actually at the people which live and work there, as you can see,

IT employment, patents, venture capital, huge spikes in the Silicon Valley also compared basically to the rest of the world. Immigration has a big impact, the positive one actually, as you can see here in the meantime, more than 30% of startups basically being built up

by immigrants, and you have people like me, Germans, basically living in the Silicon Valley, working there, driving innovation, and actually a lot is about innovation, as you will see in the next few minutes, and what's also a driving factor and the success factor I would

even say is the density and the close proximity actually of the companies, of the universities, Stanford, Berkeley, of the whole basically environment with the legal and administrative support which, you know, startups need, with the venture capital companies basically

here on Sand Hill Road, it's all very close by, and our headquarter of Mercedes-Benz Research and Develop in North America, which I'm heading, is actually there in the heart of it all, just a few minutes actually also from Facebook, from Apple, from Google, all the companies we are working with. Now looking at the digital revolution roots

and digital lifestyle revolution as we call it, being born actually in the Silicon Valley, so you can see a few essentials here, on the one hand, actually people are very much willing to take risks, it's actually okay to make mistakes or have actually failures, also in the

only like one out of 100, maybe two out of 100, being very successful and, you know, having successes like Facebook, like Twitter, and other companies, you know, being purchased by Facebook

like recently happened for one billion dollars, and that's one key aspect and the high value, and it's very easy actually to grow a business there, so if you are very creative, if you're open-minded and you want to start something new, maybe start your own business if you don't have it yet, I can just invite you, I mean the environment there is really

very encouraging and it's a great place to be, to live and to work, and face-to-face networks actually play a very, very important role, even though with all the social networking and digital you know communication and so on, still face-to-face communication and also this interaction

of work and social and private actually drives trust, and trust actually drives relationships, also long-standing relationships, and it actually helps innovation in the valley

and how people actually work and invent, and as you can see here, in the meantime actually, we do not produce any silicon anymore in the Silicon Valley, we still kept the name, we are in the meantime actually in the fifth innovation wave, as you can see, so the Silicon Valley has something, you know, it has this ability basically to reinvent itself, and we

are talking here on the reinvent track about the right topic, and as you can see, basically starting from defense, integrated circuit, personal computer, the internet, and now the social and the mobile internet being the actual wave of innovation in the Silicon Valley, actually the top

websites, as you can see here, you know, which are visited every day by all of us around the world, are actually headquartered in the Silicon Valley or nearby San Francisco. Now, talking about digital lifestyle trends, started in the Silicon Valley, just a few

to name here out of this recent innovation wave, always on, simplexity, innovation, acceleration, and social networking, and I will just go briefly and cover them. So, on the one hand, always on, basically, it means on the one hand, you know, as we all know, with our smartphones, with our mobile devices, you know, we are always on, we are always connected,

it actually has changed how we live, how we interact, and, you know, how streaming information basically is coming upon us, and we need to filter much more information, and it also creates some topics like urgency addiction, you know, we want to be, you know, basically always

connected, we already feel very strange, you know, if we are not online on the plane, or, you know, in other areas where we have no service, and so on, so we just get used to this, and as we can see, even in the smartphone world, you know, OSs like iOS or like Android are the ones which are successful, and others, you know, like Symbian, and, you know, maybe even

Blackberry OS, which have not managed, basically, to cover this trend, even from the technology side, well, have some issues. Next, simplexity. What this means is actually, you know, complexity underneath, you know, heavy technology underneath, but then you look at it from a user perspective,

it's very simple, it's very easy to use, and I just wanted to basically, you know, show here examples, just by chance, being Apple products, the iPod, and actually the very first iPhone from 2007, which really revolutionized the world in terms of, you know, phone, what a phone means

to us, and being a smartphone, and that you actually do not even see the difference between apps which are connected, and apps which just, you know, use onboard data, so this seamless integration, and this easy to use, and also aesthetic from a design perspective. Innovation acceleration being the next one, so it's really all about innovation speed

in the Silicon Valley, so that's what's really driving, you know, the success of the companies, and those companies, you know, which really are able to reinvent themselves continuously, and are

really successful, and also with new disruptive business models. I mean, if you look at Google, also now with Larry Page, having taken over again as a CEO, you know, he really manages the company as a giant start-up company, and focuses on the right topics. The next and last, actually, is the social networking, so, as you can see here, basically,

you know, global diverse networks, wireless speeds, bottom-up empowerment, live casting, very, very, you know, big trends, actually, big changes, and we have heard, actually, in some topics today, you know, what actually has been driven by social media,

and how it helps all of us, actually, today around the world. Next topic, actually, I want to go into a little deeper, you know, what does it mean for Mercedes-Benz? Why are we actually there? And, actually, we have been the first company, the first automotive company, having

an office there. We started our office back in 1995, and, in the meantime, we have been there, basically, since then, have grown, you know, actually significantly. We have, in the meantime, actually, two offices since we grew out of the one location which we had, and we have about

130 engineers, designers, you know, software and hardware engineers working closely together and creating innovation for our cars, of course, and for the different brands like Mercedes-Benz, AMG, Smart, and so on, and we are also collaborating with other OEMs, for example,

on topics like Car2X and car-to-car communication, creating standards for the future, and it's not all about competition, actually, and it's also about collaboration. So, one example, actually, my command, which we have introduced to the world in 2008, it was actually born as a skunkworks project, and, actually, many of the

innovations and even inventions from the Silicon Valley start like that. They start as a small skunkworks project, and it was this idea of actually building a whole infotainment system for the car completely built on the cloud, built completely on cloud content, cloud infrastructure.

Even the software, basically, you know, running on this system is continuously updated each time you start it up, and based on this, actually, you will see later on, we have built the first product which we launched last year in 2011, just three years later. In 2010, we introduced Smart Drive, which is actually the first true automotive app on a smartphone. It was on an iPhone.

We introduced this for smart, you know, with a cradle, and you were able, actually, to have a complete infotainment solution on a smartphone and touch the screen, actually, the multi-touch screen of the device with media, phone, navigation, and assist, and you can try it out for free

from the iOS store for some time, and then, of course, because of navigation and so on, there is some fee to be paid if you want to continue to use all the features. In 2011, we introduced AMG Performance Media, and those of you which might happen to

drive an SLS AMG, you can actually get this, and it's an Android-based system. It's the first Android-based automotive solution by an automotive OEM, especially a premium OEM,

and we have been not just the first, actually, to integrate Android as an operating system for an infotainment solution and also performance, you know, solution with different performance apps, actually, to support, you know, your racing and G-meter and other features,

but actually fully connected to support Google Maps in the car, and this is also driven from the Silicon Valley, actually, by cooperating closely with companies like Google. We have announced a strategic partnership, actually, with Google in January of this year, working closely with them, actually, to bring their innovation into our cars where

it makes sense. Also, internet radio like Aupio here from Berlin, as you all know, and other apps, and we offer, actually, an open platform, an SDK. We call it Drive Mode, and actually any Android developer who has an app, you know, running on Android, which makes sense to be used while driving, could basically change their app to make it

workable even in the car while driving on this Android platform. Very innovative, and I am sure this would not have been possible, you know, within Daimler, within, basically, the company, without this office there in the Silicon Valley, you know, being there at the pulse of this

innovation, and also working closely with the companies nearby. Next is Command Online and our Mercedes-Benz apps, which we introduced last year in March, first with Google local search, with sending routes and sending POIs to the car, and also weather. We have added Facebook,

we have added Google Street View on Panoramio in November. We are just adding now actually Google News, Morningstar Finance for stocks, and so on, and Parking Finder, and we are just launching actually in the next few days our Mercedes-Benz apps shop so that

customers actually can download their apps or purchase additional apps which are not for free or not come included with this, and this was actually the product which we built based on this original idea of my command in 2008. One other example, a digital drive-style app which we just announced actually debuted at the Geneva Auto Show, and this is actually

a completely new approach, kind of built on the smart drive idea I showed before to use actually the smartphone as an engine in the car for the infotainment solution in the car, and here we go a step further. We use the iPhone as an engine to actually drive the screen in the

car and being completely remotely controllable from the rotary knob and the keys and so on around this in the car, and also with this actually and having this approach of driving the screen from the smartphone actually through a digital video interface, HDMI, we are able to bring in

completely new user interface structures, also a very very rich UI as you can see here we invested a lot actually in the UI in terms of having these glossy tiles and having mirroring on this glossy surface and a new approach in the UI menu structure with media

social and places of course with Facebook, Twitter and so on and navigation integrated but with a lot of connected apps and media also getting your media out of your social streams and so on very rich feature set and just a few more examples here you know like these glass tiles

you know when doing an alphabetical search so not just innovation on a macro level but also innovation on a very you know micro level when it comes to user interface design user interface technologies and there's a lot of actually design and engineering work you know being

being actually put into the development and the design of these technologies you know and basically for the customer at the end of the day it just needs to be you know delightful easy to use and just a joy basically to to use the system and many of you know the little details we focus on you know are not necessarily seen right away on the first glance

now the last topic I wanted to present here today is this dice a dynamic and intuitive control experience we showed at the consumer electronics show in 2012 actually in January and Las Vegas and just to give you a few examples on the one hand we included actually

gesture control in the interior of a car so basically complete experience you know without buttons without hard keys without switches you can just use your hand and actually you don't have to you know use certain gestures to actually control the system it's like it's like a touch

screen you know without touching the screen actually and we used the whole front windshield you know for augmented reality which I will show on the next page here as you can see you know with a rich 4k display basically integrated in the windshield and this will be

possible in a few years from now you know and with all the rich data from the cloud you know with all this information basically from the information space around you there's like tons of layers of information actually which we could digitally use and overlay you know in a professional matter where it makes sense as you can see here with a few examples and you

know thinking about you know 2020 and down the road you know you think about also autonomous driving you know and even more you know usability you know of augmented reality or features like this being possible you know without having the driver's distraction being an issue and then you know this approach of social media and places we introduced it in this

dice prototype and new interior and then actually continue to use it in the product in the digital drive style product which we will launch actually in the new a class later this year and also with you know like a swarm intelligence and and you know connecting basically

your social data with an intelligent map underneath and and you know with many many ideas actually to just create a new rich experience while driving and well integrated and of course very easy to use and here a short clip actually

i've been at the consumer electronics show in las vegas this year i hope you had a chance

to stop by our booth and actually experience it so very very intuitive to use so basically just reaching with your hands towards these you know virtual soft keys and buttons and grabbing

things and pulling them down actually from the exterior from you know the surroundings and interacting with with that data very easily you can see actually for those cars around you would share that information can immediately identify them and you know add them to your address book or follow them on twitter when you know driving by an interesting restaurant

or you know listening into the music of a pub you know which you like just by driving by or you know connecting maybe songs you like with a certain location you know you know things like geocaching of course you know being possible here are the routes with you and of course car

sharing that's the car to go cars you see around the show here and let me just finish

with one slide here and some information about things we are working on now and where we go next actually beyond what i have presented before is you know we are really thinking about a new you know generation of vehicles which are truly intelligent and truly you know digital

companions which learn your habits which adapt to your choices predict your moves and interact with your social networks and really create an experience you know which goes beyond what we all you know know today and experience today so i hope you have some questions or some

comments we have a small q and a session and thank you very much for listening thank you

just let me know when you are in the silicon valley you can stop by our office hi um i have a question in the past it always used to be that the the the car

world and the electronics world was hard to synchronize i mean uh we used to use and have a new iphone uh every year uh we buy a new car um three years seven years something

like that uh on and another point is um if the iphone sometimes crashes and does not what we want um then uh that's okay um maybe not nice but okay uh whereas a car we expect that it works really every time so how do you synchronize those things

yeah it's a very good question actually so we have two things on the flexibility side to actually be always up to date and uh you know to keep uh pace basically with the technology and with the innovation and so on and to kind of you know couple and have a solution you know

for the the slow five six year development cycle of a car and you know the six to 12 months development cycle of these consumer electronics and and apps and so on for that to solve that and bridge that gap actually we created two solutions on the one hand basically mercedes-benz apps for example you know running in the browser environment having

this flexible approach and having the fully embedded systems basically which are fully proved and run through the three to five year development cycle uh you know be open for uh you know apps which you can continuously download update upgrade and so on and add down the road without having to visit the dealership that's the one uh solution uh you know creating these

fully embedded systems being flexible and being open for these add-ons and and and new installations of apps and so on on the other hand we uh create you know as perfect integrations as we can of smartphones and actually new solutions which are based on the smartphone and uh to enable this way customers actually to bring in their latest technology and

latest gadgets uh each year basically as they come out and use it in the car and of course you know in terms of stability we put a lot of focus and a lot of automated and manual testing and so on to make sure that these embedded systems uh you know work rock solid um you know

as you're used to today uh of course you know when you make or when you develop systems based on smartphones um there could be cases you know just basically based on uh you know the nature of smartphones uh that um you know you cannot completely rely on you know

compared to uh fully embedded systems that is clear. Hi uh thanks again for the great speech uh just one uh question um you said that uh for the new A class you're gonna integrate the uh swarm intelligence technology um how soon uh do you think uh you're gonna include the

technology over all uh uh models? Yeah so this digital drive style concept actually uh which I presented uh with uh social media and places in this rich UI we will introduce it first in the A class but actually it is planned to go uh across all uh or most of the model lines

I should say so we do a staggered lounge basically then in the B and C and E class and and other vehicles as well so it is planned as a cross uh car line uh solution and by the way

if you haven't visited the uh Daimler booth uh with uh in depth as a theme uh you know please feel free to stop by check it out it's cool. Hi um actually I am a bit disappointed by

your talk um if you if you work in in the silicon valley um and you present um products

as disruptive say as the as the iPhone or the iPod pot like products that have completely made other products um useless and have or or obsolete and have um defined new um well new ways of

living um I can't see that in your um products like if if I if I put my iPhone in a car I can do the same things without uh that your dice does without gloss and if I if I write

by or if I drive by in in a closed vehicle if I if I drive by a bar which plays music in a closed vehicle and I can hear the music from the bar in my vehicle it seems a bit over the top because if I walked I could hear the music from the open door so so this seems

like like eh eh eh it's a it's an awful lot of uh actually it doesn't seem like that that much of a of a of an effort to to put like those electronic gadgets into a car that we know

from a hundred years so I I would like to eh eh if I the the the lie I I thought they were the this is something from the the the lifestyle that I don't need in Europe I think so if I have this this car and I can't find a parking lot when I when I hear that

lovely music from the from the the bar it it makes no sense so I I I hope to to hear a few moving ideas that maybe went away from the pure um box in which I sit and have to

I'm sure you have ideas maybe you could tell some of these it's a it's a great great comment and uh I mean that's one of the reasons actually why we are here too you know it's it's overall about mobility so cars you know is one form of mobility and you know

everybody can choose do you want a car or not uh you know do you want a small car a large car a convertible or uh you know a coupe or whatever and uh in that regards I mean we created solutions like car to go as one mobility concept you know as car sharing uh we're working on other new mobility concepts uh so in general I think as a company and

also you know for me in the Silicon Valley with our team there you know we fully support you know to come up with very disruptive and and new ideas for mobility mobility and then also for you know the car as long as it's with us as long as it's there and we all like it or some of us at least uh you know to create uh solutions like my opinion

if you look at the dice and and you know maybe it was just a very short clip and you know we didn't talk too you know deeply about you know all of its in my opinion pretty disruptive you know innovation and and ideas um with uh augmented reality with gesture control uh you know with with you know the intelligence you know I talked

about last as last point uh point uh you know with having uh you know basically context aware technologies uh you know with bringing uh and you know more personalized and and and more adaptive uh you know user interfaces that basically the car or whatever you have in terms of you know of your devices is already a step ahead of you you know and can

give you the right recommendations uh and and and make even predictions of you know what's maybe your next move maybe based on calendar data based on lots of data uh you know and based on your habits and and and what you're used to so my opinion there are actually a lot of you know big innovations and and inventions in this area coming up but

there are a lot of small improvements too you know which my opinion will make our life just much easier I mean if you look at the car itself how many things you do not have to operate anymore you know like your viper is going on when it's raining you know your light is going on when you go into a tunnel uh you know with the sonic plus in our cars you know the car is breaking for you it's accelerating for you it's doing many many things I mean

the next step will of course be and it's going to be a giant step is autonomous driving um you know and uh there will be scenarios first where it's much easier maybe on a on a highway and so on with all cars driving in one direction and so on before we do autonomous driving in um in uh in a city or so where it's much more complex with

intersections with uh um you know people crossing the streets and so on but in my opinion there's still a lot of innovation and inventions actually uh awaiting out there either to be discovered or we are already already working on and you know partially maybe not openly talking about it yet