Mercedes dials up the speed on its hands-free, eyes-off Drive Pilot feature

Mercedes is inactive waiting for support from German regulators earlier pushing retired a bundle update to customers of vehicles that enactment Drive Pilot. But erstwhile that happens, the institution boasts that it volition person “the world’s fastest Level 3 strategy successful a series-production vehicle.”

Drive Pilot is akin to “hands-free” road driving systems similar GM’s Super Cruise, Ford’s BlueCruise, and Tesla’s Autopilot, successful truthful acold arsenic it allows drivers to instrumentality their hands disconnected the steering instrumentality and feet disconnected the pedals nether definite conditions. It is presently approved for usage successful lone 2 states successful the US: California and Nevada. But dissimilar Level 2 systems, successful which drivers are required to support their eyes connected the road, Mercedes’ Level 3 strategy has a small much allowances.

That includes letting drivers look distant from the roadworthy astatine thing else, similar a crippled oregon a movie, erstwhile definite conditions are met. For Drive Pilot to work, determination needs to beryllium a conveyance successful beforehand of your car, tenable roadworthy conditions with readable markings and lines, and wide upwind and optimal light. If 1 oregon much of these conditions aren’t met, past Drive Pilot won’t beryllium disposable for use.

Initially, Mercedes marketed Drive Pilot arsenic the perfect diagnostic for stop-and-go traffic. Let the car grip the driving truthful you tin cheque your telephone oregon portion out. And the strategy volition springiness you ample informing erstwhile you request to instrumentality backmost power of the vehicle.

But by dialing up the maximum speed, Mercedes present seems funny successful selling Drive Pilot arsenic the perfect partially autonomous strategy for roadtrips successful general. And the institution envisions the strategy arsenic a stepping chromatic to afloat autonomous driving.

But drivers are adept astatine skirting the rules that govern operator assistance systems, according a caller survey conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. And portion Mercedes says drivers won’t beryllium capable to autumn dormant oregon ascent into the backseat portion utilizing Drive Pilot, immoderate volition surely effort their hardest. And erstwhile the car is traveling astatine overmuch higher speeds than before, each it takes is simply a divided 2nd for thing to spell wrong.

There person been studies that amusement that hand-off betwixt automated strategy and quality operator tin beryllium particularly fraught. When radical are disconnected from driving for a agelong play of time, they whitethorn overreact erstwhile abruptly taking power successful an exigency situation. They whitethorn overcorrect steering, brake excessively hard, oregon beryllium incapable to respond correctly due to the fact that they hadn’t been paying attention. And those actions tin make a domino effect that has the imaginable to beryllium unsafe — possibly adjacent fatal.

Most afloat autonomous companies, similar Waymo and Cruise, person said they deliberation Level 3 is excessively dangerous, preferring to enactment exclusively connected Level 4 exertion that cuts the operator wholly retired of the equation. The crushed is the request for drivers to enactment attentive contempt the conveyance performing astir of the driving tasks.

Mercedes is successful the process of getting support for turquoise marking lights that amusement up the headlights, taillights, and broadside mirrors, truthful different drivers cognize the Level 3 strategy is successful use. And the institution says the apical velocity allowed for “conditionally automated driving” successful Germany is 130km/h (80.7mph), which it aims to scope by the extremity of the decade.