Mercedes, the German luxury carmaker has decided to express its stance on the controversial Web3 sector, in a rather bold and artistic way. In a revamp to its operating system, Mercedes-Benz has decided to include a digital gallery, showing off non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Built on blockchains, NFTs are digital collectibles that hold underlaying values, which makes them a lucrative investment item for members of the Web3 community. NFTs could be inspired by artworks, cartoons, game characters, or even imaginary elements.
During its recent presentation at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, the German automaker showcased its next-generation Mercedez-Benz Operating System (MB.OS) that brings changes to its in-car entertainment provisions, Decrypt reported.
As part of these tweaks to its OS, the dashboard of Mercedes-Benz now features a new app called ‘MBUX Collectibles’. Through this app, users of these cars will be able to browse through NFTs linked to the brand. Last year, the car company had dropped its second NXT Icons NFT collection. The 18,860 digital that are collectibles part of this collection, for instance, will be shown as part of the car’s NFT gallery.
1/ We are excited to announce our next core collection, Mercedes-Benz NXT Icons, which takes you on a journey through @MercedesBenz‘s design heritage and features icons from both the past and present. Find out more about this collection in this thread. ↓ pic.twitter.com/6EauPdTBEi
— Mercedes-Benz NXT (@MercedesBenzNXT) August 22, 2023
The first ever NFT collection from Mercedes-Benz debuted in April last year, and it was named ‘Maschine’. NFTs from this series will also be featured in the revamped dashboard. Hoping to connect with a younger generation of customers, the German luxury car brand has been trying to establish itself as a pro-Web3 brand for a while now.
Apart from NFTs, Mercedes-Benz had inked a sponsorship deal with the FTX crypto exchange in September 2021. The partnership automatically fell apart after the FTX exchange collapsed last year and ended up filing for bankruptcy. Not just NFTs and crypto exchanges – the company has also taken into conscience, the use of blockchain in its operations. In 2020, the company piloted a blockchain project to track the amount of CO2 emissions triggered by its cobalt supply chain.
