MERCEDES-BENZ IS LEADING THE WAY when it comes to hands-free, eyesfree driving. The company’s Drive Pilot technology is now authorized for use in California and Nevada, the first U.S. states to allow it. It has arrived ahead of similar technology promised by Tesla and General Motors.
Drive Pilot is considered a Level 3 conditionally automated driving system by SAE International, a professional organization that develops standards for the automotive industry. That level indicates that the system can fully operate the drive functions of a vehicle when certain conditions have been met.
These include the vehicle’s location, roadway type, full “visibility” from the car’s sensing systems and speed and driver behavior, among other things. The system requires a driver to safely operate the vehicle, to activate the system and for all the technology’s condition checkboxes to have been met before it initiates. A Level 3 system is not fully autonomous. Drivers must be ready to take control of the vehicle when prompted to do so by the system. If they fail to do so, the Mercedes will slow safely to a stop and emergency services will be called via on-board technology.
Drive Pilot has been available in the Mercedes-Benz S-Class sedan and EQS Sedan in Germany for a year. Before it could make it to the U.S., the technology needed refining due to the number of lane marking types, the condition of roadways and the distinct driving styles of Americans. Guide rails, curbs, lane-width curvatures, multilevel freeways, carpool lanes, motorcycle lane splitting and differently shaped vehicles rank among the most frequent challenges, according to the automaker.
The Mercedes technology can only be used in California and Nevada on major freeways. But, that doesn’t mean that the cars it is installed on are limited in their operation. The technology is geofenced to those areas in those states. Opening the technology up to other areas could be as simple as an over-the-air update, once other states allow it.
Drive Pilot uses around-the-car technology to stay functional. That includes a camera for optical image capture in a three-dimensional environment, interior microphones to detect emergency vehicle si
