I can't figure out this one, sorry. I drive the car 100miles/day, took a peek in the manual, nothing. What is this cup of coffee doing in the speedometer?
Thanks.

 

It's the "Attention Assist" alert thingy that's supposed to notify you when to wake up (if you're dozing off). I found mine to be alerting me a lot, though not once when I was dozing off. lol

 

Thanks K-A, I was starting to think some sort of Starbucks-Benz conspiracy!

 

No, no, no...!

K-A is blowing you off. It is a McDonalds coffee sales pitch as a few years ago it was adverticed in the morning show that it is the best coffee on the road (and I agree with this one). K-A is a Starbucks guy so he tries to down play this fact...

Or perhaps he is correct (again), you choose...

I drive my car very regularly 350 - 450 miles / day when I'm not on a flying trip and this little annoying alarm has comne on many times. About 70% of these has been false alarms but the other 30% I would say have been good ones.

I think it mainly monitors the steering input as on some rough roads where I need to make lots of steering moves to avoid pot holes etc. it comes on quite easily.

 

I actually never had that warning come up. There are times during long stretch of roads with no cars around I try to steer right and left quickly and try to trigger it but no luck

 

My experience has been that its accuracy rate is about 50%....although on the several occasions when I was *really* fatigued it didn't go off.

 

It has been very accurate in my case, it studies your steering inputs/movements especially on long trips and triggers that beep sound with lit coffee cup when it detected LACK OF INPUT in steering associated with fatigue or sleepiness. It accurately predict my fatigue 95% of time on trips over 120 miles. Alanme123: It's Driving style dependent. Trying to intentional set it off with overly input in steering will not also work because it detect intentional input. A fatigue or sleepy person has little to no input in steering. After driving several miles let go the steering wheel, that will set if off IF DRIVING ASSIST HASN'T BEEN DISABLE

 

OK so it isn't supposed to be present all the time, or is that the default and it lights up or something when it detects lack of steering input? It is always present when I drive.

 

When the Attention Assist is turned on (through the menu in your speedometer), it shows the coffee cup.

Mine has alerted three times in 20K miles, twice when I was tired and needed a break, and once when I was texting and had eyes off the road.

My understanding is that it has retina scanners in the instrument panel, and uses them somehow as well as driver motions.

<I>From their website:

Tests conducted with over 550 male and female drivers have shown that many people fail to recognise tiredness in good time. Tiredness generally builds up over a prolonged period, rather than revealing any sudden and clearly noticeable symptoms.
The innovative ATTENTION ASSIST system can detect when drivers start to become drowsy and prompt them to take a break before it's too late.

The risk of falling asleep momentarily is at its greatest on long-distance journeys in the dark or in unchanging conditions because this is when drivers are most likely to suffer a lapse in attention. The sheer monotony further heightens the risk of falling asleep at the wheel. Studies show that, after just four hours of non-stop driving, drivers' reaction times can be up to 50 percent slower. So the risk of an accident doubles during this time. And the risk increases more than eight-fold after just six hours of non-stop driving!

ATTENTION ASSIST observes the driver's behaviour and, at the start of every trip, produces an individual driver profile that is then continuously compared with current sensor data. This permanent form of monitoring is important for detecting the floating transition from awakeness to drowsiness and for warning the driver in plenty of time. The system is active at speeds of between 80 and 180 km/h.
At the heart of this Mercedes system is a highly sensitive sensor which allows extremely precise monitoring of the steering wheel movements and the steering speed.
Based on these data, ATTENTION ASSIST calculates an individual behavioural pattern during the first few minutes of every trip. This pattern is then continuously compared with the current steering behaviour and the current driving situation, courtesy of the vehicle's electronic control unit. This process allows the system to detect typical indicators of drowsiness and warn the driver by emitting an audible signal and flashing up an unequivocal instruction on the display in the instrument cluster: "ATTENTION ASSIST: Break!" </I>

 

In my 2.5 years of owning my 550, I have had the attention assist come on ONCE.....
it vibrates the steering wheel in an attempt to wake you up.......

would be nice to have a Mickey glove come out of the glove department and smack you in the head LOL! would be more effective

 

Thanks all for answering my Q and mikemargolis for posting from the MB site

 

Mine went off on my first long drive when I was trying to drive 360 miles straight through. With the distronic on, I started day dreaming and it vibrated the steering wheel and started beeping at me. I was impressed it actually did something. Hasn't come on again yet.

 

Mine seems to come on at night on longer trips. I drive up and down I-75 a lot and it's a flat and straight highway. I think it gets mad when I don't do much steering input, but what can I say, my E drives straight and smooth. It started going off a bunch on my last trip home on 75. That trip was white knuckle though with heavy rain, so hard I could barely see the white lines at times. After i got through it, the coffee cup came up 3 times in 10 minutes. No way I was falling asleep after that!

 

In three years I have had mine come about three times. Each time was appropriate in that I was drifting somewhat or speed was fluctuating a lot. One time I actually was drowsy so I pulled over at a fast food restaurant.
Based on my experience, I think it has a evaluation period of 20 minutes or so before it starts to try and analyze your driving. Each time mine came on was when I was on the interstate after about 20+ minutes. Not sure how it accounts for variability in driving on two lane roads with traffic, stops, etc. before getting to interstate or a road where you are driving a consistent speed.
Anyway, it works and is a good feature IMO.