Vehicles on autopilot: Mercedes-Benz has become the first automaker in the world to receive approval for a highly automated “Level 3” vehicle
Vehicles on autopilot: Mercedes-Benz has become the first automaker in the world to receive approval for a highly automated “Level 3” vehicle
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Starting today, self driving cars will enter the german Autobahn at up to 60 km/h.
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Translated text:
Vehicles with Autopilot
Mercedes-Benz has become the first automaker in the world to receive approval for a highly automated “Level 3” vehicle. In theory, a big step – if there weren’t some restrictions.
On the A8 near Pforzheim, traffic is slowing down. The digital traffic signs on the side of the road indicate: Reduce speed! Only 60 km/h is permitted. The new Mercedes-Benz EQS registers this immediately: two small green LEDs on the white leather steering wheel flash. The autopilot offers itself. One push of a button later, the driver can take his hands off the steering wheel and lean back. From now on, the system takes over the vehicle: it brakes and accelerates on its own, keeps in lane, observes the surroundings.
The first step toward autonomous driving: This is only possible thanks to state-of-the-art technology: radar, LiDAR, cameras, ultrasound and wetness sensors measure precisely what is happening around the vehicle and in the interior. Autopilot, which Mercedes calls “Drive Pilot,” was a technical challenge, says Chief Technology Officer Markus Schäfer: “There is a lot of additional technology in the vehicle. The vehicles have redundant braking systems on board, redundant steering systems, a redundant additional on-board network and a great deal of sensor and computer technology. “Mercedes is thus the first manufacturer in the world to meet the conditions for so-called “Level 3 certification,” i.e. for vehicles that drive in a highly automated manner and allow the driver to temporarily turn away from traffic. And it does so in ongoing road traffic and not just for testing purposes. While in Level 1 and Level 2 the technology supports the driver, in future Level 4 and Level 5 vehicles the driver becomes a passenger and the system takes over control fully autonomously.
Reading the newspaper yes – sleeping no – In the Mercedes on the A8, the driver reclines his seat and flips through a magazine – quite legally. The ARD lunchtime magazine is playing on the display in the middle. In the meantime, the traffic has become even heavier, the car brakes again and again to a standstill and accelerates again to up to 60 km/h. It’s an unusual feeling not to be able to keep an attentive eye on the road. Sleeping through a traffic jam remains a dream, even in the new Mercedes. Infrared sensors at the height of the steering wheel check whether the driver is still awake. After all, the driver must be able to take over the vehicle again at any moment, says Schäfer, who is responsible for technology. A recorder records every driving state and can be read out in the event of an accident. Who is ultimately liable if the vehicle in the “Drive Pilot” causes an accident must be decided on a case-by-case basis.
The development of the “Drive Pilot” by Mercedes is indeed a big step, says automotive expert Stefan Bratzel: “For the first time, it is no longer the driver who is responsible for driving, but the vehicle manufacturer in this specific driving situation. That’s new worldwide.” Other automakers are also working on highly automated systems, but they are not yet as far along as Mercedes. The expert sees the future in a different area anyway and looks at the multi-lane road in front of his institute: “We will see a lot more robot cabs here, where there will no longer be a driver, but only passengers. “Bratzel can imagine that in ten to 15 years, only autonomous shuttles will be driving through German inner cities. The U.S. tech company Alphabet in San Francisco, for example, shows what this could look like. Its Waymo service works like a classic cab, but without a driver. The steering wheel moves as if by magic. America is much further ahead in the development of fully autonomous Level 4 and 5 systems, says Bratzel. But these systems have not yet been approved. This is an area where technology groups could seriously compete with traditional carmakers.
Highly automated driving with many restrictions the new Mercedes, it’s the driver’s turn again. The displays that were just showing the TV program are black. The vehicle prompts the driver to take over immediately. If this does not happen, the car stops. So the driver now has to drive through the roadworks on the A8 manually again. For legal reasons, the possibilities for using Autopilot are still severely limited: It may only be activated on highways up to a maximum speed of 60 km/h, in good weather and not at construction sites.
Even if the vehicle is theoretically capable of more, the company says it is approaching it from the cautious side. On German roads, the new Mercedes will probably remain a rare exception for the time being – if only because of its high price. This car costs at least 140,000 euros.
Translated with http://www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
And how much did they pay the regulators for that rating?
“For once, it’s no longer the driver who is responsible for driving, but the manufacturer, said Schafer…”
Those are some hilarious last words before a good old fashioned wrongful death lawsuit.
I’ll set my alarm for 3 years from now.
Big if true.
As far as vehicles that you don’t have to drive, I’ll stick to those that do two, three, even five times as much as 60 km/h and cost at most as much as a Mercedes special edition keychain: they’re called trains.