BeachBunny

In the various PR videos for the W213, Merc shows off a remote parking feature. BUT I'm not seeing anything about this on MBUSA.com. Would I be correct in thinking this option didn't make it to the USA?

joshg1001

correct. Thank US legislation.

BeachBunny

That stinks. I wonder how Tesla got it through.

PeterUbers

Exactly

Something to do with their half a billion injection of cash from the government?

Bobby4919

i was a little disappointed when I found out this wasn't available in the US (along with the 84 adjustable LED headlights), but then I thought 'How many times am I going to park my $72K car soon close to someone else that I can't get in the door?'

I think remote park pilot just moves the car forward and back... can you steer the wheels with it too?

One of those things I can do without. Now.... 64 colors of ambient lighting? Gotta have it!

joshg1001

The remote pilot also steers. You can pull up horizontally in front of a spot and it will turn and back up into it for you. its a great party trick for sure, but not sure if people would use it on a daily bases.

justinm001

The bmw 7 series has the same option but not for US markets either. I doubt it works well anyways my search for parking spaces never works and the 1 time it ever found a spot it took forever and pulled in and out 3 times, 1 of the times it was 1/4 away from other car.

BeachBunny

One of my homes does have a tight garage. With the poor sight-lines of newer cars, remote parking would get used. I have a terrible time getting the GLC loaner in there due to not being able to see the front right corner & fender of the car.

I still can't believe we're stuck with s**tty headlights! I wasn't happy about having crippled headlights with my 2015 E350 and was hoping that at some point the gov't would get their head out of 1965 regulations.

Wassaby

The 84 adjustable LED is available in US but just for the CLS model right now.

justinm001

The W213 E300 has the 84 adjustable LED lights they just don't turn off individual LED's when brights are on. If they didn't have the individual leds i dont think they can do the sweet startup when you turn them on.

justinm001

it has 360 camera view, with both front and rear wide angle. It even has a view to see your front wheels so if you pull into a drive thru you don't hit your wheels. There's 6 options (auto park, front, front wide, wheels, rear, rear wide)
Only thing you can't do is get out and use your phone to pull it into a spot.

bestgfe1

strange , my parking pilot and searching works every single time , and i use it everytime , check your seansors

justinm001

So if you're in an open parking lot with no cars, it will find a spot and auto park itself. Or does it only work when there's 1 free spot and the rest of the lot is full? What sensors does the auto park use to find spots, the mirror camera?

bestgfe1

i dont think its will work on empty parking , its would defeat the feature , as you can do it yourself , i live in NYC , and it work when there it ether: two cars and empty spot btw them ( it will park it even in super tiny space ) , Or its one car and empty space behind parked car . I use it everytime , so when ever you on street when looking for parking , press button once and just drive , you dont have to drive slow it will search if you driving 15+ mph , ( not sure what the limit ) , there is icon on middash on bottom lighting up when park searching can be activated. For me it works great . good luck

ADD0514

The feature works by finding and measuring an empty space nested between 2 solid objects using the side sensors. The car would then park itself in that space. Parking Pilot would not work in situation where the space has one open end.

stealth.pilot

It's because Tesla have *****, and MB is run by a bunch of kittens.

US Government has no appetite to regulate this level of detail. You just need to be ready to fend off the odd lawsuit from consumers.

terrain

7 series - 2017 (order July +) has the option. Looks very cool in the video's - it's beyond just font/back parking. My guess is the next year E will have this option avail in the USA as well.

thefisch

This made me smile. It sums up one of things I respect about Tesla although it could be their undoing.

stealth.pilot

No kidding. Read what they apparently did recently disabling the Model X door sensors via a firmware update without telling anyone. That is going to bite if someone loses a finger.

BeachBunny

Actually... doing a bit of digging. The issue isn't what it seems.

Instead there's a 3rd party to blame -- Verizon. Specifically Verizon Telematics, a.k.a. mBrace.

Looking over the international (Canada) versions of the car, the COMAND system gets its internet from your mobile phone via Bluetooth. This also allows direct communication with the car.

Instead, in the USA, we have Verizon Telematics to deal with. Everything has to run through Verizon's ancient, slow CDMA network. This throws up a few immediate problems for the Remote Parking app:
1) The CDMA network is too slow / has too much latency for an application like this.
2) There's no way to verify that the owner is actually in close proximity to the car. With the non-Verizon'd car, the car uses Bluetooth signal strength and keyfob to determine the driver's close enough to the car for this to be a reasonable request. With the Verizon approach, you're stuck using GPS, which doesn't work particularly well in garages. GPS-only locations could pose a problem if your phone happens to be ABOVE the garage/space.
3) Cell phone signals don't penetrate underground / parking garages well.

BTW, the "complimentary 5 years of mBrace service" really should just read pre-paid service -- Because of how few people were willing to pay mBrace's ridiculous amounts for what turned out to be a rather underwhelming and unreliable service, they've rolled the subscription into the purchase price.

rihallix

According to this webpage the 2017 E classes with parking pilot do have the remote capability but in the US it is disabled.

http://www.arrowheadmb.com/blog/merc...united-states/

According to "toney":

"the U.S Model do[es] have the remote parking pilot features but is currently disabled due to U.S. restrictions with the frequency used to operate in the remote parking pilot mode. I understand once theses restrictions are corrected and lifted you would be able to utilize this feature. For all of the future E class owners keep checking your Mbrace connect to see when the app becomes active, as mention in the article it might be a while."

Does anyone know any more about this, can they confirm this?

Planning on a 2017 E class with parking pilot - very intrigued to understand if remote parking pilot would ever be enabled via firmware or app upgrade.

sonichanxiao

My dealer told me it is a software lock in Canada, I just can't wait to have this feature, it's so useful when park in and out of garage or any tiny parking space.

BeachBunny

Absolutely false. There is no "remote" for remote parking pilot. It uses Bluetooth and your mobile phone when operating, and all of the car's normal ultrasonic sensors, radar, and cameras if equipped -- the same exact system used when you use Parking Pilot in the cabin.

The only "remote" ever used is when you initially pair your phone app with your car, you use your normal keyfob to unlock the car (to signify that you are indeed the owner of the car) and then pair the phone with the car.

It is indeed a software setting. In theory, you could find someone who knows how to code the car and have them change the setting... BUT (big but!) we don't know what these settings are, and most likely the local dealerships don't either. If you enable on setting which makes the feature appear but don't enable the other required settings, abnormal operation may occur. Abnormal operation of a 4,000 lb driverless car isn't a desirable thing. You also still need to figure out how to get the app on your phone, create a Euro account, get the Euro account to accept a US VIN... It's complicated, which is why I suspect no one's done it yet.