Hands-free driving systems expected to debut by 2020.
Mercedes-Benz continues its push toward full autonomous mobility, with a heavily-modified E-Class spotted testing on public roads in the marque’s homeland of Germany, sporting radar and lidar apparatus on the roof.
While the new Mercedes-Benz S-Class features what’s referred to as Level 2 autonomous driving capability (where the car is able to pilot itself in very specific conditions over a very short duration of time), the brand working hard to bring “hands-free driving” within the next three years, according to an Autocar report. Full autonomous driving is referred to as Level 5.
Driver assistance systems chief Christoph von Hugo said in the report that they “have a headstart” in the autonomous driving race, and that they “are working hard, investing resources to keep our lead.”
“The S-Class is a major step in highly automated driving. We are working towards the revolution of launching Level 3 cars. When we do launch it, by the beginning of the next decade, it will be capable of managing critical situations,” he said, adding that when they do bring Level 3 to their cars, they didn’t want it to require drivers to be fully attentive while the system is active.
Their tentative approach to autonomy is in stark contrast to Tesla, which has been ‘testing’ its Autopilot autonomous driving software in ‘beta’ on customer cars for some time. Traditional car manufacturers have taken a far more conservative approach in rolling out their autonomous driving technology, with many industry figures citing safety for their hesitation, stopping just short of calling Tesla’s headline-grabbing approach to the technology as reckless.
Going back to the S-Class, von Hugo said that the Level 2 autonomous system in the S-Class (the most advanced driver assistance system for the marque to date) couldn’t be relied on entirely, as it “cannot guarantee 100% reliability,” saying that customers may enjoy the comfort and convenience of the software but must still pay full attention to the road. “We should become close to 100% reliable for adhering to speed limits.”
The 2018 A-Class is set to be the next model in the marque’s lineup to house the ADAS systems from the S-Class, or so says Merc’s sales boss Britta Seeger. To that, von Hugo said that Mercedes-Benz “will not restrict safety tech to the luxury segment.”
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