Munich, Santa Monica The sun is shining, the traffic on Highway 10 is slowing down. In Santa Monica, California, Mercedes-Benz found ideal conditions for demonstrating its highly automated driving system. “The drive pilot works up to 40 miles per hour and only on the highway,” explains the test pilot. That’s about 40 miles per hour.
Within this limited framework, the Level 3 system can and can do significantly more than Tesla’s “Autopilot” assistance systems or the driving aids from BMW and Audi. “You can check your e-mails on the way to work,” explains a Mercedes developer. “And on the way home you watch Youtube or read. Everything allowed. And the car drives itself.”
Mercedes intends to obtain approval for the Drive Pilot in the US states of California and Nevada by the end of the year. In Germany, the system is already legally available from May 17 as an optional extra for two luxury sedans. The surcharge for this, without VAT, is 5,000 euros for the S-Class and 7,430 euros for the fully electric EQS, as Mercedes has now announced.
The difference in price is due to the fact that, in contrast to the EQS, the S-Class is already equipped with a comprehensive driver assistance package as standard. Anyone who orders Mercedes’ top model as a new customer can upgrade the Level 3 system more easily. But even the total amount for the EQS, which is 8,842 euros including VAT, is still a challenge to the competitor Tesla.
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The electric car manufacturer charges 7,500 euros for its “Full Self-Driving” system in Germany, which is not much less than Mercedes. But the technology of the German manufacturer is superior to that of the Musk group. A Tesla never drives completely autonomously, the driver must always actively monitor the traffic situation. Responsibility remains with people, it is a level 2 plus system on the five-step path to a robot car. This is currently the status quo for many providers.
The S-Class and EQS, on the other hand, can sometimes drive completely independently on German autobahns in traffic jams or slow-moving traffic, good weather conditions and a maximum speed of 60 kilometers per hour. Liability is transferred to the car manufacturer for the first time. “That’s a quantum leap,” says Stefan Bratzel, Director of the Center of Automotive Management (CAM) at the University of Applied Sciences in Bergisch-Gladbach. “You can’t hang it too low. Mercedes is the first to go here. Tesla and others don’t have that yet.”
Not done with a software update
However, the technical effort that Mercedes puts into service is immense. “We integrate significantly more hardware into the Level 3 vehicles, we have expanded the sensor set here,” said Gregor Kugelmann, Head of Driver Assistance Systems at Mercedes-Benz, the Handelsblatt.
For example, a lidar is housed on the radiator grille, an additional camera at the rear and an antenna module on the roof, via which Mercedes taps into the three large navigation satellite systems Galileo, Glonass and GPS in order to be able to locate the vehicles with centimeter accuracy. “In addition, there are double safety systems – we are talking about redundancies – for the brakes, steering and on-board network,” explains Kugelmann.
The additional components make it clear: Level 3 cannot be activated in the vehicles of existing customers via a software update. Only those who order a new S-Class or an EQS with the Drive Pilot from mid-May can use the service. In addition, the offer is initially limited to the two luxury sedans. With the GLS or the EQS SUV, Mercedes does not offer highly automated driving.
CAM Director Bratzel assumes that 30 to 50 percent of S-Class and EQS customers in Germany will also book the Drive Pilot: “It’s a new feature that you can proudly show off to your neighbors.” A really lucrative business for Mercedes, however, highly automated driving will only be possible at a speed of more than 100 kilometers per hour, he believes.
This is exactly what the Stuttgart car manufacturer is working on. “We want to continuously increase the speed,” explains Mercedes developer Kugelmann. “But as soon as you leave the protected traffic jam area and are driving on an open lane, the system must also be able to carry out a safe lane change. This will not be possible without additional sensors in the rear of the vehicle.” Higher speeds cannot simply be activated later via software updates either.
Graphics card manufacturer Nvidia is collaborating
The Drive Pilot is foreseeably subject to considerable restrictions. The system cannot currently be used even in snow, heavy rain and low temperatures. “With an additional sensor system, however, it could be possible in the future, for example, to enable driving in dim light or at night, on wet roads and at temperatures below four degrees,” says Kugelmann.
Mercedes is developing the next generation of the Drive Pilot together with the US graphics card manufacturer Nvidia. It should also be used in mass models such as the A-Class in the middle of the decade. According to company circles, Mercedes is intensively discussing whether the sedans and SUVs that the group will be bringing onto the market from 2024 will already be equipped with lidars and additional rear cameras as a precaution.
- The advantage: All new cars would then have the necessary technology for level 3 as basic equipment on board. Customers of the brand with the star can therefore activate the service months or years after purchasing the vehicle for a corresponding fee.
- The disadvantage: The high costs for the mass installation of opulent sensor sets would probably only pay off again with very high activation rates of the Drive Pilot. Mercedes is therefore still considering. A final decision could be made later this year.
“Autonomous driving is a central function of the future, and at some point you have to include it in the basic equipment of vehicles,” recommends industry insider Bratzel. Not least to be able to compete against Tesla and Chinese newcomers like Nio or Xpeng.
Tesla boss Elon Musk sees the software for autonomous driving as the “greatest source of profit” for his company in the future. In his opinion, the dimensions that the whole thing will take on are still often underestimated in the industry. “Every vehicle will have it in the future,” he explained in early 2022.
Musk doesn’t even want to bother with a traffic jam pilot like the one offered by Mercedes. He believes he can complete a Level 4 system later this year. That would mean: The driver would finally become a passenger and could even sleep while the machine becomes a chauffeur on defined routes.
Most experts consider this plan to be illusory. Especially since Tesla is already coming under increasing pressure with its current “autopilot”. In recent months, the US traffic regulator NHTSA has repeatedly launched investigations into safety concerns and called for improvements.
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