Garmin collaborates with Daimler to bring connected features to Mercedes-Benz vehicles with the vívoactive 3 GPS smartwatch

Garmin today announced an integral collaboration with German automobile company Daimler AG to bring its trusted wearable technology into Mercedes-Benz vehicles as the outcome of their Fit & Healthy project first shown at CES 2017. Thanks to this new joint effort, Daimler will introduce a Mercedes-Benz branded version of the Garmin vívoactive 3 hybrid smartwatch to Mercedes-Benz vehicle owners, and provide well-being features that monitor their stress levels and heart rate data once the watch is connected to the Mercedes Me mobile application. Garmin will showcase many of its automotive OEM products, including the customized Mercedes-Benz vívoactive 3 integration, in booth #30342 at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Jan. 8-11.

“We are excited to bring our expertise in wearable technology into Mercedes-Benz vehicles via the ENERGIZING Package options,” said Matt Munn, Garmin automotive OEM managing director. “Our popular vívoactive 3 GPS smartwatch can deliver some of the driver’s key health metrics, including wrist-based heart rate, to the Merdeces-Benz User Experience. Once the information is compiled, drivers will be presented with customized recommendations for enhancing their well-being directly from the system.”

The ENERGIZING Packages introduce adaptive comfort and infotainment systems to help reduce weariness or stress. Heart rate and stress data is sent directly from the vívoactive 3 to the Mercedes Me app thanks to the Garmin Health Companion SDK, a software solution that enables real-time biometric data to stream to mobile applications. The Mercedes app can also utilize the vast range of all-day wellness data that is tracked by the vívoactive 3 and delivered through the Garmin Health API, allowing the ENERGIZING Package solution to have a better picture of the driver’s well-being to improve the overall experience.

For example, drivers will have the option to select potentially less stressful routes directly from the navigation system. Some of the conceivable capabilities of the infotainment system can extend to provide stimulating or soothing music to suit the driver’s mood on the road, new-type seat massages, matching climate control, and the ability to manipulate fragrance and suitable ambience lighting within the vehicle. These options are currently evaluated in research studies between Daimler AG and Garmin to show how to use vital parameters appropriately not only in terms of well-being, but also to help encourage road awareness.

In addition to providing heart rate data and a driver’s stress level, the vívoactive 3 GPS smartwatch will be exclusively modified for Mercedes-Benz customers with custom branded materials and display screens. The Garmin vívoactive 3 is one of the company’s flagship smartwatches and is packed with features that include built-in indoor and outdoor sports apps, smart notification alerts delivered right to the wrist, and a contactless payment solution to make secure payments from the watch thanks to Garmin Pay.

The Mercedes-Benz vívoactive 3 will be available globally through Mercedes-Benz dealerships in March.