2020 Mercedes S500 Will Be The World’s First Driver-less Luxury Car
By Stephen Brown @SteveBTech is the founder of DigiLyfe, DigitalAfro.com, Nubby.co, and StemStars.org
an organization that teaches K-12 Students Technology.
A bold step forward
The question has always been which luxury auto-maker would be the first to bring the driver-less car to market? Mercedes-Benz has answered this question, & completely outdone themselves with full driver assist integration into its flagship model the S500. With the 2020 S Class, Mercedes-Benz boldly shows what a flagship sedan should be in every way. This car displays unrivaled technology, and plants the Mercedes-Benz marque firmly into the future. More importantly, Mercedes-Benz isn’t hand holding buyers who might feel uncomfortable with virtual gauges, LED lighting, and near-autonomous features, the car is designed with the ‘future is now’ approach.
Steering Assist may seem radical, but it represents the same type of step forward Mercedes-Benz made previously with its Distronic Plus adaptive cruise control.
Mercedes-Benz pioneered adaptive cruise control with an earlier generation of its S-Class, and now adds a near-autonomous feature, Steering Assist. Adaptive cruise relies on radar to detect the speed of any cars ahead, and match that speed if it is slower than what you set for cruise control.
The S550 has stereoscopic cameras mounted on the windshield, in front of the rearview mirror. These cameras let the car know the location of lane lines. When I activated the adaptive cruise control system, the car not only matched the speed of slower traffic ahead, but holds its position in the lane, actively steering the wheel to compensate for curves.
Fuel economy may be middling, but the S550’s engine shows off a good set of modern efficiency and power technologies, and its seven-speed automatic transmission races in both Eco and Sport modes.
*Mercedes has not released the official price of the driverless S500, but industry analysts are estimating the price will start near the $250-$275K range, with varying packages for performance and features.
Watch The Videos Below To See the Mercedes In Action
