Mercedes shows off autonomous technology

Last month, Mercedes-Benz successfully piloted an S-Class from Mannheim to Pforzheim in Germany in remembrance of the route Bertha Benz took 125 years ago.

What's the news?
Last month (August 2013), Mercedes-Benz successfully piloted an S-Class from Mannheim to Pforzheim in Germany in remembrance of the route Bertha Benz took 125 years ago to mark the first long-distance drive. Or rather, the car piloted itself; as the S 500 'Intelligent Drive' drove the busy, 100-kilometre urban route autonomously... more than once, too.

Previous attempts at autonomous driving have generally been done on motorways or on deserted tracks, so taking the huge S 500 Intelligent Drive to populated and busy streets is a big achievement. It was also the first car ever to drive autonomously during a traffic jam. Other obstacles it had to overcome were roundabouts, pedestrians, cyclists, right-before-left priority junctions and even trams. What's even more amazing is that the S-Class drove this route using near-production-ready sensors combined with the company's "Route Pilot" automated driving system all of which will make its way onto Mercedes models in the near future.

Now if we're honest, there were some glitches along the way. Take traffic lights, for example - the S-Class uses a colour camera mounted on the windscreen to differentiate between the different colours thereby avoiding running a red light. This system works fine until there are different sets of lights controlling different lanes, whereby the system gets confused and hands control back to the driver. Other issues came about at zebra crossings where the car would stop, be waved on by a pedestrian, but continue to wait.

Due to this research, Mercedes believes that its autonomous driving system will be released in three stages. The first will be partially automated driving where the driver can sit back and relax but must constantly monitor the car to make sure it's doing things correctly. Highly automated driving is the next stage; allowing the driver to undertake non-driving activities, but is always available to resume control when the system requires. The third and final step would be fully automated driving, which will inevitably lead to driverless cars as well.

Anything else?
Autonomous driving is all part of Mercedes' EUREKA-PROMETHUS (Programme for European Traffic with Highest Efficiency and Unprecedented Safety) project that opened in 1986. In 1994, a convoy of vehicles successfully drove over 1,000 kilometres of open, multi-lane motorway almost entirely autonomously. The project has also developed Mercedes' Distronic adaptive cruise control, which, in itself, is a form of autonomous driving. Speed Limit Assist, a 6D Vision camera, Active Blind Spot Assist and Active Parking Assist have also all come from this initiative.

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