In the Mercedes-Benz, Neflix on the train will soon be possible – and this is how it works

Spiderman is in full swing right now and is beating up his arch enemy Mysterio in every way possible. We enjoy the surround sound, the razor-sharp picture and the popcorn. Even if it is sugared. “Spider-Man: Far From Home”. Nothing special. A Marvel film that you’ve already seen. True.

But we are sitting behind the wheel of a Mercedes EQS and racing down the motorway at 90 km/h. Actually. Because it is not us who are in command, but the Mercedes Drive Pilot 95. The name says it all: Now the EQS and S-Class can no longer only drive autonomously at 60 km/h at level 3, but up to 95 km/h. It doesn’t sound like much, but it is a world of difference. The Robo-Benz can also operate outside built-up areas on motorways or structurally separated lanes. This means that longer journeys are also possible without the driver having to focus primarily on the traffic. As a reminder: Automated driving level 3 means that the car can take over command independently for a certain period of time and on suitable routes.

Target: Mercedes-Benz wants to reach 130 km/h by 2030

However, autonomous driving is much more complex than was assumed just a few years ago. The goal set by some automotive managers to have autonomous driving at level 4 by 2021 quickly proved to be illusory. Mercedes has become cautious and has set a target of 130 km/h at level 3 by the end of the decade. That makes sense. It’s hard to imagine what would happen here if an autonomous vehicle from a German manufacturer caused an accident. That’s exactly what has already happened in the USA. The technology and especially the associated software are too complex. After all, the car has to imitate humans and make the right decision in a fraction of a second.

It is obvious that humans cannot become beta testers when it comes to autonomous driving. Neither inside nor outside the vehicle. It is therefore only logical that robot cars cannot leap straight to Level 4 (cars can drive independently on special routes, such as motorways or parking garages, even without people on board). Even Elon Musk had to accept that it would not work without LiDAR sensors. These are expensive, but offer advantages such as an accurate digital 3D representation of the environment and a fairly large range. “Every sensor has strengths and weaknesses,” explains Taner Kandemir, who is responsible for autonomous driving at Mercedes.

That’s why the robust radar sensors, which work even in fog and dirt, are just as important as the antenna on the roof, which uses satellites at an altitude of 250 kilometers and the extremely precise maps of the navigation system to determine the position of the car to the nearest centimeter. The basis for the Drive Pilot are current vehicles that can perform Level 2+ autonomous driving maneuvers with more than 40 assistance systems on board. That’s why the EQS, in which we sit behind the wheel, can also change lanes automatically as long as our hands remain on the wheel. The Level 3 Robo-Benz is not normally allowed to do that. From the beginning of next year, brand new S-Class and EQS models will be delivered with the Drive Pilot 95. Existing vehicles with Drive Pilot 6o will receive a free update.

Nobody should become a tester: safety comes first

This means that the cars can now drive on the highway without human intervention. However, Mercedes and the legislature still set strict limits. Safety comes first. The Drive Pilot is strictly required to drive on the right. This means that the right lane of the road with structurally separated lanes is the habitat of the Mercedes with the Drive Pilot 95 active. But on the highway and faster than before. Basically, this Drive Pilot is a further development of the traffic jam assistant. In the EQS, we squeeze behind a truck as the lead vehicle. To make things easier for the system, we activated the adaptive cruise control including the Level 2+ autonomous driving functions. According to Mercedes, the activation should work even without this preconditioning and up to 100 km/h; the vehicle then automatically brakes to 95 km/h.

The handover procedure from human to machine is familiar from the Drive Pilot predecessor: the Robo-Benz signals readiness with pulsating white LEDs on the left and right of the steering wheel rim. We press the flashing buttons, take our hands off the steering wheel, grab the popcorn and admire the human spider. In bright sunshine, the system does its job pretty well and is not disturbed by cars cutting in. Especially when the conditions are perfect. That means a truck or other car in front, clear markings. This works well for several minutes, but in the urban area of ​​Berlin, the automated happiness is sometimes short-lived: at construction sites and on the right-hand side of the road that becomes a turning lane, the autopilot says goodbye and the human has to take the wheel again.

The same applies when emergency vehicles approach from behind. This is what Mercedes intended, because humans still make the best decisions in such situations. But it shows how complex autonomous driving is and how far we still have to go to a real robo-taxi. It is particularly annoying when Spiderman is about to finish off the final boss. You can see how tight the regulatory guard rails are when the blue lights flash on the opposite lanes. As soon as you pass them, the rear camera also detects them and asks the driver to take the helm. When it comes to forming emergency lanes, the Mercedes is ready to go again. Things get interesting when the human does not comply with the machine’s request to take over. After a series of haptic and acoustic signals (belt tensioner shakes the upper body) without a reaction from the human, the Drive Pilot intervenes again and directs the vehicle onto the hard shoulder. Changing lanes is then permitted. A sensible further development of simply braking to a standstill, the 60 km/h version.

Mercedes-Benz is ahead in Europe

Mercedes is happy with what it has achieved and has presented the system to the KBA and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Transport. “We currently have the fastest car,” beams Taner Kandemir. It looks like Tesla will present its robotaxi on October 10. Probably with a lot of fanfare and big words. Anything else would not do Elon Musk justice. The fact is: Mercedes is already delivering. And on German motorways.