Waiting for self-driving cars on every street corner? The CEO of one of the world’s largest automakers says you’re best off waiting until the late 2030s.
Ola Kallenius, CEO of Mercedes-Benz, says the path from current autonomous driving systems – which require varying degrees of human supervision – to the kind of self-driving technology that will allow manufacturers to Exporting cars separating the steering wheel from their car altogether is a bit slow.
Talk to Nilay Patel about decoder podcast, says Kallenius “it takes a lot of computing power, a lot of sensation, a lot of backend, etc” to create autonomy.
“It’s not something you can put in a $10,000 car, but you can put it in a $80,000 to $100,000 car in the first place. I think we’ll definitely dive in [20]30 seconds before the whole world gets there. I think a lot will happen in this decade on the way there,” he said.
Just because we won’t have full autonomy doesn’t mean Mercedes-Benz won’t improve its current systems in the interim.
“We will have a tier two system that will be like a tier four system. You are still responsible, but the car can do almost anything. Super supportive,” Mr Kallenius told Mr Patel.
“Together with Nvidia, we are currently working on our next generation of automatic powertrains. They will be on the market by the end of 2024 to 2025. I’m pretty excited about what we’re doing there. We have a very good partnership with them and we are moving fast,” he said.
Mercedes-Benz is now offering Level 2 autonomous driving across its range, in the form of an adaptive cruise-matching system that maintains a distance from the vehicle in front and a lane-keeping system that will actively steer to go in the middle of the white lane. lines.
The driver is required to keep the steering wheel at all times and keep an eye on the road with the L2 system.
The S-Class is offered with Level 3 self-driving technology in Germany. Mercedes-Benz is responsible for any accidents caused when their Drive Pilot system is activated, regardless of the driver’s attention or not.
Mercedes-Benz believes that its willingness to take responsibility for its Level 3 driver assistance system will help it gain approval from US regulators. Owners will remain liable for any incidents caused while they are driving and the Level 3 system is down.
Mercedes-Benz’s system goes a step further than current driver assistance systems like Tesla Autopilot, which require the driver to hold the wheel and keep an eye on the road while they’re in action.
Drive Pilot already has features in S-Class and EQS sedan, and was approved for use on German motorways mapped at speed below 60km/h in December 2021.
Mercedes-Benz has confirmed that it is seeking approval to use the system on California and Nevada highways at speeds below 64km/h (40mph) by the end of 2022.
This system is best used in heavy or congested traffic situations where it is designed to reduce stress on the driver.
Level 3 autonomous driving means that drivers can take their hands off the wheel in certain situations like highways and traffic jams, and even take their eyes off the road.
The system gives a 10-second warning before handing over control to the driver if the vehicle crashes.
The Drive Pilot system uses LiDAR, cameras, microphones and special humidity sensors in the wheels to control the vehicle’s speed and distance from the vehicle in front, and guide the vehicle within its lane.
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The system can also react to unexpected traffic situations and handle them independently, moving in the lane or making an emergency stop.
One of the few other Level 3 autonomous vehicles available is the Honda Legend sedan in the Japanese market, with Traffic jam pilot system allowing it to navigate congested highway traffic automatically.
A similar level 3 technology was demonstrated by Audi at the launch of the fourth generation A8 sedan in 2017, but was delayed. BMW will debut technology in New line 7.
People who like Cruise and Waymo are working on steering wheelless self-driving cars for ride-hailing, but at this stage their pilot programs are limited to certain regions with reasonable regulations.
