Mercedes-Benz has just secured approval for the use of a Level 3 autonomous driving system in Germany, becoming the first brand in the world to receive such "authorization".
The approval was made by the German Transport Authority (KBA) and means, in practical terms, that from 2022 the Stuttgart brand will already be able to market the S-Class with the Drive Pilot system (but only in Germany).
However, this semi-autonomous driving system, which still requires the presence and attention of the driver, is only authorized in very specific usage scenarios: up to 60 km/h and only on certain sections of the autobahn.
However, Mercedes-Benz guarantees that in total there are more than 13 thousand kilometers of highway where Level 3 can be activated, a number which is expected to grow in the future.
How does Drive Pilot work?
This technology, currently only available on the latest generation of the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, has control keys on the steering wheel, located close to where the hand grips normally are, which enable the system to be activated.
And there, Drive Pilot is able to manage by itself the speed at which the car is circulating, the stay in the lane and also the distance to the car that follows immediately ahead.
It is also able to perform stronger braking to avoid accidents and detect cars that are stopped on the lane, hoping that there is free space in the lane to the side to get around it.
For this, it has a combination of LiDAR, long-range radar, front and rear cameras and navigation data to «see» everything around you. And it even has specific microphones to detect sounds of oncoming emergency vehicles.
A humidity sensor was also mounted in the wheel arches, which allows detecting when the road is wet and thus adapting the speed to the characteristics of the asphalt.
What's the goal?
In addition to removing the driver's workload, Mercedes guarantees that with the Drive Pilot in action, it will be possible to shop online during the trip, communicate with friends or even watch a movie.All from the model's central multimedia screen, although many of these features continue to be blocked during the journey whenever the vehicle is not circulating with this mode activated.
What if the system fails?
Both the braking systems and the steering systems have several redundant elements that allow the car to be maneuverable if any system fails.
In other words, if something goes wrong, the driver can always step in and take over the steering, accelerator and brake controls.