Mercedes-Benz Group

How they deploy

Deployment model

Mercedes-Benz runs AI as central platforms with delivery in the divisions. The group IT organization sits in Britta Seeger's People & Enterprise Tech division under CIO Jonas von Malottki. Group IT provides Copilot, Direct Chat and n8n through a company-wide AI Competence Centre, which supplies platforms, frameworks and tools and advises and trains business areas. A Global Cyber Security, Data and AI unit created in 2025 bundles cybersecurity, the chief data officer role and the technical management of the AI organization. The divisions build their own applications: production runs the MO360 AI Factory from the Mercedes-Benz Digital Factory Campus in Berlin-Marienfelde, development owns PLM.AI, and sales runs AI in pricing and customer service. More than 1,500 employees built AI and automation ideas at a company-wide hackathon in 2026, and the strongest are being put into production on n8n.

Model providers

Mercedes-Benz's Direct Chat was built in late 2023 on OpenAI's ChatGPT technology through Microsoft's Azure OpenAI Service. Direct Chat added Google Gemini models in Aug 2025 so employees can pick a model, and offers DALL-E image generation. Mercedes-Benz uses Microsoft 365 Copilot as its workplace assistant, in selected areas since 2024 and group-wide from Mar 2026. Software engineers use Cognition's Devin, a cloud-based autonomous coding agent, Windsurf as an AI coding environment and Devin for Terminal (Apr 2026). Customer-facing tools use Google Cloud's Vertex AI and Gemini models (Apr 2024). Mercedes-Benz has not said which models run behind its MO360 chatbots or PLM.AI agents.

Data and infrastructure

Mercedes-Benz connected its roughly 30 passenger car plants to Microsoft Azure through the MO360 Data Platform in Oct 2022, using Azure Data Lake, Azure Databricks and Power BI to give production staff real-time data. Mercedes-Benz hosts Direct Chat in European data centers on Azure and says employee inputs are processed anonymously and not used to train models. Customer data sits in Google Cloud's BigQuery, and Google Cloud is the backbone of Mercedes-Benz's internal development and test platform for driver assistance (Apr 2024). n8n runs on Mercedes-Benz's own infrastructure. Then-CIO Katrin Lehmann said in May 2026 that invoicing alone existed 38 times across the company, and Mercedes-Benz is removing such legacy systems as it standardizes.

Leadership

AI, data and platform leaders

AI org map

Central IT and AI platforms under the HR and tech board member; delivery in each division

Mercedes-Benz places AI platforms in its group IT organization, which moved from CEO Ola Källenius into Britta Seeger's People & Enterprise Tech division by Jun 2026, combining HR and IT on the Board of Management. CIO Jonas von Malottki took over global IT from Katrin Lehmann on Oct 1, 2026 and reports to Seeger. Lehmann created the Global Cyber Security, Data and AI unit in 2025; Mercedes-Benz has not published where that unit or the company-wide AI Competence Centre reports since Oct 2026. The divisions for development, production and sales, each led by a board member, build their own AI applications on these platforms.

Mercedes-Benz has not published how many people work on AI. Mercedes-Benz's AI work sits in the group IT organization under CIO Jonas von Malottki, which includes a company-wide AI Competence Centre and a Global Cyber Security, Data and AI unit. Mercedes-Benz's divisions also do AI work, including the Mercedes-Benz Digital Factory Campus in Berlin-Marienfelde for production and the development organization behind PLM.AI. A Jul 2026 RAISE Summit session said Mercedes-Benz had scaled agentic AI across 10,000 engineers. Ola Källenius said in Sep 2026 that the Bangalore engineering center, the largest outside Germany, employs about 8,500 people.

Use cases

Mercedes-Benz Group runs AI across production, development, software engineering, procurement, sales, after-sales and corporate work. Ola Källenius counted dozens, if not hundreds, of AI-driven projects in Feb 2026. Mercedes-Benz has published no business return it credits to AI for any use case. Mercedes-Benz's figures are targets (PLM.AI's up to 30% shorter development time), speedups (development cycles up to 25% faster with Cognition) or an older pilot result (20% less energy in a Rastatt paint shop pilot, Sep 2023). At firm level, Mercedes-Benz reports savings from Next Level Performance and its productivity drive but does not say how much comes from AI.

Adoption

Mercedes-Benz spread AI in layers. Production data moved onto the MO360 Data Platform from Oct 2022, and the Direct Chat app arrived in late 2023. Microsoft 365 Copilot reached selected areas from 2024 and the whole group from Mar 2026. n8n workflows and Cognition's coding agents followed in 2026. Mercedes-Benz's Mar 3, 2026 release put the weekly AI usage rate among all employees at about 50%, more than double over the previous year. Then-CIO Katrin Lehmann gave a narrower measure in May 2026, reported by Stuttgarter Zeitung: about 60% of employees with office workstations used an AI tool at least once a week, against 20% at the start of 2026, with a target of 70% by year-end. Mercedes-Benz has not explained how the two measures relate. Just Auto reported in Jun 2026, paraphrasing Britta Seeger, that about 60% of employees used AI every day, up from 30% 18 months earlier. Mercedes-Benz has not confirmed that daily measure, which differs from its weekly figures. Mercedes-Benz runs a weekly Friday learning hour for more than 10,000 staff, and tens of thousands had completed its AI Learning Journey by Oct 2025.

By the numbers

Economics & controls

Recent signals

1. Oct 29, 2026

   Mercedes-Benz said it will reopen its voluntary severance program for indirect functions in Germany from Dec 2026 and is redesigning workflows with AI in administration and sales.

   Evertiq

2. Oct 28, 2026

   Ola Källenius said on the Q3 2026 call that AI will speed up product development at Mercedes-Benz by up to 30%. CFO Harald Wilhelm said Mercedes-Benz is driving efficiencies through the broad use of agentic AI, and Mercedes-Benz said it will expand its NVIDIA partnership on driver assistance.

   Q3 2026 earnings call transcript

3. Oct 16, 2026

   Mercedes-Benz announced PLM.AI with CONTACT Software and Siemens, investing around half a billion euros to shorten development time by up to 30%.

   Mercedes-Benz

4. Oct 1, 2026

   Jonas von Malottki took over as CIO of Mercedes-Benz's global IT organization, succeeding Katrin Lehmann.

   CIO Magazin

5. Sep 3, 2026

   Ola Källenius told the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers that the shift to AI and automated driving is a bigger transformation for carmakers than electrification.

   Autocar Professional

6. Jul 13, 2026

   CIO Magazin reported that CIO Katrin Lehmann, who led Mercedes-Benz's Copilot, n8n and Direct Chat rollouts, would leave the company at her own request.

   CIO Magazin

7. Jul 8, 2026

   CIO Katrin Lehmann and Cognition's chief executive were billed at the RAISE Summit in Paris to discuss how Mercedes-Benz scaled agentic AI across 10,000 engineers.

   RAISE Summit

8. Jun 22, 2026

   Just Auto reported that Britta Seeger called AI a productivity tool rather than only a way to cut headcount, with Mercedes-Benz aiming for 70% AI adoption by the end of 2026.

   Just Auto

9. Jun 9, 2026

   Stuttgarter Zeitung reported that Mercedes-Benz moved IT from CEO Ola Källenius to Britta Seeger, combining HR and IT as People & Enterprise Tech, and that 90,000 office workstations had Copilot.

   Stuttgarter Zeitung

10. May 12, 2026

    Mercedes-Benz announced a global rollout of n8n for AI workflows after a hackathon with more than 1,500 employees.

    Mercedes-Benz

11. Apr 28, 2026

    Mercedes-Benz said it is deploying Cognition's Devin and Windsurf to its engineers, accelerating development cycles by up to 25%.

    Mercedes-Benz

12. Apr 16, 2026

    Mercedes-Benz shareholders elected AI executive Rashmi Misra to the Supervisory Board.

    Q3 2026 interim report

13. Mar 3, 2026

    Mercedes-Benz began rolling out Microsoft 365 Copilot to all administrative and production-related staff worldwide and said about 50% of employees used AI each week.

    Mercedes-Benz

14. Feb 12, 2026

    Ola Källenius told investors Mercedes-Benz has dozens, if not hundreds, of AI-driven projects, and Mercedes-Benz named AI among the levers for a 10% cut in production cost per unit from 2027.

    Q4 2025 results and strategy update transcript

15. Dec 1, 2025

    Jörg Burzer became Mercedes-Benz's CTO, and Michael Schiebe took over production, quality and supply chain.

    Mercedes-Benz

Quick answers

How does Mercedes-Benz Group deploy AI?

Mercedes-Benz deploys AI mostly through bought platforms run by its central IT: Microsoft 365 Copilot for administrative and production staff worldwide and the in-house Direct Chat app on OpenAI and Google Gemini models. Employees build AI workflows on n8n, and engineers use Cognition's Devin and Windsurf. About half of Mercedes-Benz employees used AI each week in Mar 2026, and IT reports to board member Britta Seeger. Mercedes-Benz has credited no business return to AI: PLM.AI's up to 30% shorter development time is a target.

What does Mercedes-Benz Group use AI for?

Mercedes-Benz Group runs AI across production, development, software engineering, procurement, sales, after-sales and corporate work. Ola Källenius counted dozens, if not hundreds, of AI-driven projects in Feb 2026. Mercedes-Benz has published no business return it credits to AI for any use case. Mercedes-Benz's figures are targets (PLM.AI's up to 30% shorter development time), speedups (development cycles up to 25% faster with Cognition) or an older pilot result (20% less energy in a Rastatt paint shop pilot, Sep 2023). At firm level, Mercedes-Benz reports savings from Next Level Performance and its productivity drive but does not say how much comes from AI.

Who leads AI at Mercedes-Benz Group?

AI at Mercedes-Benz Group is led by Britta Seeger (Member of the Board of Management, People & Enterprise Tech and Labour Director); Jonas von Malottki (Chief Information Officer); Daniel Eitler (Chief Data & AI Officer and Global CISO). Ownership of AI on the org chart: Board member Britta Seeger (People & Enterprise Tech); CIO Jonas von Malottki since Oct 2026.

What AI platform does Mercedes-Benz Group use?

Mercedes-Benz combines tools it built, such as the Direct Chat app (late 2023) and the MO360 production chatbots, with bought platforms: Microsoft 365 Copilot group-wide from Mar 2026 and n8n for AI workflows from May 2026.

Which AI models does Mercedes-Benz Group use?

Mercedes-Benz's Direct Chat runs OpenAI models through Microsoft's Azure OpenAI Service in European data centers and added Google Gemini in Aug 2025; engineers use Cognition's Devin and Windsurf (Apr 2026).

How many Mercedes-Benz employees use AI?

Mercedes-Benz said about 50% of employees used AI each week in Mar 2026, more than double a year earlier, and more than 10,000 used Direct Chat daily as power users (Oct 2025).

What return has Mercedes-Benz Group reported from AI?

Mercedes-Benz Group has reported no business return it credits to AI in the 18 months since May 2025. PLM.AI's up to 30% shorter development time (Oct 2026) is a target. Cognition's tools are credited with development cycles up to 25% faster (Apr 2026), a speedup with no cost or headcount figure. The more than €3.5 billion contributed in 2025 by the Next Level Performance program (Feb 2026) is not credited to AI. Mercedes-Benz meets the Piloting rung through a company-wide rollout with a user figure. Mercedes-Benz's Mar 3, 2026 release on the group-wide Microsoft 365 Copilot rollout said about 50% of employees used AI each week, more than double a year earlier. Then-CIO Katrin Lehmann put weekly use among office staff at about 60% in May 2026. Board member Britta Seeger owns IT and AI as head of People & Enterprise Tech, and Jonas von Malottki has been CIO since Oct 1, 2026. Mercedes-Benz stays off Scaling until it credits returns to AI in several functions or reports a firm-level AI figure.

Open questions

• What return does Mercedes-Benz get from any deployed AI tool, such as Microsoft 365 Copilot, Direct Chat, the MO360 chatbots, Celonis, Cognition's coding agents or AI-supported pricing, in cost, headcount or revenue?
• How much of the more than €3.5 billion that Next Level Performance contributed in 2025, and of the 10% production cost cut targeted from 2027, does Mercedes-Benz credit to AI?
• How many Microsoft 365 Copilot seats has Mercedes-Benz bought, given that it said all administrative and production-related staff will get access and Stuttgarter Zeitung reported 90,000 office workstations?
• Does Mercedes-Benz measure AI use daily or weekly, and over which employees? Mercedes-Benz said about 50% weekly (Mar 2026), Katrin Lehmann said about 60% of office staff weekly (May 2026) and Just Auto reported about 60% daily (Jun 2026).
• Does Daniel Eitler still lead data and AI, and how is the Global Cyber Security, Data and AI unit placed under CIO Jonas von Malottki?
• Which models run behind the MO360 chatbots, the MO360LLM Suite and the PLM.AI agents, and where is Google Gemini hosted for Direct Chat?
• Will Apptronik's Apollo robots move from pilots to regular production work, and in which plants?
• Will the up to 30% shorter development time promised for PLM.AI show up in Mercedes-Benz's development costs, and when?

Sources