Enlarge / Mercedes-Benz’s Drive Pilot system being tested. (credit: Mercedes-Benz)
On Thursday, Mercedes-Benz became the world’s first automaker to gain regulatory approval for a so-called “level 3” self-driving system, perhaps better called a “conditionally automated driving system. ” It’s called Drive Pilot, and it debuts next year in the new S-Class and EQS sedans, allowing the cars to drive themselves at up to 37 mph (60 km/h) in heavy traffic on geofenced stretches of highway.
Mercedes-Benz has offered various degrees of driver-assistance systems in the past, combining adaptive cruise control (which regulates the car’s speed) and lane-keeping assist (which tracks lane markers and uses the car’s steering to center it between them), but those were only “level 2” systems, as defined by SAE International . That means that although the particular car can accelerate, brake, plus steer for itself, a human driver is still required to maintain situational awareness.
The new system is true automated driving as opposed to driver assistance. It uses a combination of radar, cameras, lidar, microphones (to detect emergency vehicles), and a moisture sensor, plus the car’s high-accuracy GNSS, which locates the car on an HD map.
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