Mercedes Leads With Real-Time Deployment

Mercedes-Benz will take a step closer to offering a self-driving car in the United States, or at least some states, when it begins selling cars equipped with its new Drive Pilot system later this year.

Mercedes’ Drive Pilot system is designed to operate on busy highways at speeds below 40 miles per hour. Unlike traffic jam assist features already available in the United States on a number of luxury models today, including Mercedes-Benz cars, the Drive Pilot system allows the driver to completely disengage from the act of conduct. When the system is on, Mercedes considers it safe for the driver not to pay attention to the road – although the driver should always be ready to regain control if necessary, for example if the traffic situation changes. or if the system encounters a problem. unusual situation that he is not able to handle.

The Mercedes system is considered Level 3 automation, as defined by the Society of Automotive Engineers. It’s more automated than a Level 2 system, like Tesla’s Autopilot, General Motors’ Super Cruise, and Ford’s BlueCruise, in which the vehicle’s brakes and steering operate on their own in certain situations, but the driver must always pay attention to the road at all times.

Level 3 System

In a Level 3 system, “you don’t drive when these automated driving features are activated — even if you’re sitting ‘in the driver’s seat,'” the SAE says.

The driver could, for example, check his e-mails on his phone or watch a video. Even Tesla’s Autopilot and so-called “Full Self-Driving” technologies require the driver to be aware of the road outside the car at all times.

“In the modern world, time is one of the most precious commodities, and giving back time to our customers is a central part of our strategy to build the most desirable cars in the world,” said Markus Schäfer, Director technology at Mercedes-Benz.

The system complies with Nevada’s traffic regulations for autonomous vehicles, according to Mercedes, which hopes to obtain certification in California soon. The system will be available on the 2024 model year Mercedes EQS and S-Class models, which will go on sale in the United States later this year. The system will only work on certain mapped highways in states where it has been deemed legal, such as Nevada and, possibly soon, California.

Among other technologies, the Mercedes system relies on lidar, which is similar to radar but uses laser light, rather than radio waves, to detect objects in its environment. Lidar can provide much more detail about a vehicle’s surroundings than radar or cameras alone and many experts believe this is a necessity for safe autonomous vehicles. Tesla CEO Elon Musk, however, said the cameras alone are enough.

The Mercedes system also uses a rear-facing camera in the rear window, a microphone to listen for emergency vehicles and road moisture sensors inside the wheel arch. It also relies on regularly updated high-definition three-dimensional map data as well as an ultra-precise vehicle positioning system that is much more accurate than regular GPS, according to Mercedes-Benz.

This article is originally published on news-24.fr