I just mailed the following text to MB USA. If other 2018 MY E400 and E300 owners with Drive Pilot (P3) have similar concerns it would be great if they also could contact MB corporate, or the dealers from whom the car was purchased or leased.

I am writing to ask if a software update will be available for 2018 Model Year E class owners who purchased the P3 package with DrivePilot. My car is just over 6 months old and my experience with the version of Drive Pilot installed in my E400S has been very disappointing. The car routinely crosses double yellow lines when the system is engaged, and will drive off the road if even a gentle corner approaches unless I brake.

My understanding is that the Drive Pilot system installed in the 2019 Model Year E class is substantially improved, and much safer.
If no hardware changes were made to the Drive Pilot system between MY 2018 and 2019 a software update should be made available to 2018 E400 owners. Is this available?

My wife owns a Tesla for which the Autopilot system is greatly superior to that in the 2018 E400, and as I'm sure you are aware, the Tesla system is updated frequently to improve its safety and use to drivers. I would hope that MB would offer a similar level of service, especially given the current severe limitations and safety issues in the 2018 MY E400 implementation of drive pilot.

I look forwards to hearing how the software in my car, which is barely 6 months old, can be updated.

 

Don't mean to be the bearer of bad news but I doubt they will update, normally not the way MB does things. Interesting though on the 2019's they are doing some over the air updates, I saw my NAV update the other day without even being prompted. I never saw my 2018 do that.

 

Yes, it's just not really in Mercedes DNA to do such things. I remember when cell phones were just becoming car friendly. While other car manufacturers were offering Bluetooth interfaces, if you wanted a phone in your Mercedes, you had to buy a specially designed and majorly expensive Motorola phone for the car. Though I didn't buy one, if memory serves, it cost slightly north of $1,000. Still it will be interesting to see what if any response the OP gets from MBUSA. Wagonsrock, please update us if you get a response.

 

Here's the response from MB USA - sadly even worse than expected.

Thank you for your contact to MBUSA.

We have documented your feedback here at MBUSA. We recommend having the dealership review your vehicle and to check to see if there is a malfunction.

MBUSA relies on our dealer network to diagnose and rectify any vehicle performance issues. In addition to specialized tools and training, authorized Mercedes-Benz technicians have access to a highly technical support team which includes MBUSA engineers.

We appreciate the opportunity to respond. Best wishes for many safe and pleasant miles of travel. Enjoy the Holidays.

Kind Regards,
Mercedes-Benz USA

 

So print the email out and take it to your dealer. You say it's not staying within the street lines, so you should expect them to make whatever adjustments necessary for it to do what it should do.

 

I haven't driven a 2019 with the adaptive cruise/lane keep assist package so I can't compare. The driving capability of my 2018 is pretty remarkable. Occasionally the speed limit sign recognition feature caused the vehicle to dramatically slow while reading feeder speed limit signs while actually on the highway or in the case of one Sunday dramatically accelerating when it mistook the HWY 75 sign for the speed limit on a rural two lane road. I've turned off the sign recognition feature and the surprises have gone away. I've never driven a Tesla so perhaps my expectations are limited. I use 'self-driving' as a back up for safety. On the off chance that I get distracted or maybe spilled a drink -- the few moments of disruption could largely be drama free. While I'm a fan of the coming autonomous vehicles I don't view my P3 as one. With that being said it is very possible that there is an issue with yours or that 2019s are more improved. I can report that I enjoy using the feature on my car and find it to perform well as a safety back up feature.

 

My experience is pretty similar to yours. I too have disabled the automatic speed change feature for exactly the reasons you described, but leave the speed warning on (set at 4 mph over) as a reminder of when I'm exceeding the posted limit. The 2018 MY Drive Pilot worked well for me on the Autobahn in Germany, and is also OK on interstates and major roads in the US provided that they have good lane markings, and gentle curves. I use it all the time because it makes driving more relaxing. It still wanders in the lane more than the Tesla system, but I can live with that.

By contrast, 2018 Drive Pilot becomes dangerous/terrifying on highways (not Interstates) in the following cases: 1) curves of sharper radius, when the either car crosses double yellow lines or will run off the road; 2) while driving in low density traffic at speeds around 40 mph where cars either merge in front of you, or when you come to a red light/stop sign and the distance to the car ahead exceeds the range of the forward radar; in these cases the MB brakes later and much harder than a driver normally would, instead of slowing down because there is stopped or slowing traffic ahead. This does not happen in heavier and slower traffic because the MB is now sensing the car ahead and matching its speed, so when the car ahead slows to a gentle stop at a light, so does the MB.

There have been multiple reports in various forums of issues similar to those that I have found for the 2018 version, and I'm pretty sure the car is behaving as designed (i.e. its self driving ability is limited, and supposed to be used mainly on highways). It seems its been improved for MY 2019 but I've never driven one. Currently my only direct experience is with the two cars that we own: the M3 Tesla and my 2018 E400S, and the Tesla system is years ahead (in part because it has many more sensors and cameras than MB, so it can detect surrounding traffic better). I'm not about to trade in a 6 month old car to get a 2019 E450 but would pay to have the software upgraded to 2019 Drive Pilot assuming that's all that's needed to make the change. Its possible that MB added more sensors (I don't think they did) or that they upgraded the computer that runs Drive Pilot.

 

 

Just a quick note, the SurroundView cameras (in the mirrors, the hood, and trunk) are not used for driving autonomy. It uses the three radar units at the front of the car, the three at the back of the car, the stereo camera pair at the top of the windshield, and possibly some fusion of the ultrasonic sensors. If I misread your statement, I apologize, just wanted to clarify.

 

 

 

I can imagine at the dealers they would setup a line on each side of the car and then put the Distronic Cameras in a calibration mode to check for their adjustments. If adjustments were required they would physically move the alignment of the cameras behind the rear view mirror.

 

The easiest way to do this is with a camera calibration grid. Basically, it'd be mounted to the chassis of the car, near the focal point and focal plane of the cameras. The car's reference frame to the world (road) is well known. So, all you need is a common placement on the car's chassis or on a test frame itself. From there, the cameras can be calibrated using an affine transform. Essentially, this means that cameras are calibrated w.r.t. car, and car is known w.r.t. world. Thus, cameras now calibrated to the world. You actually wouldn't even need to align the cameras. Alignment is messy, and given the necessary resolution on the cameras, might cause errors. Instead, I bet that offsets to the calibration matrix are noted in the procedure via software, and then each camera's sensor grid can be correctly offset through basic math in the software. (Full disclosure, I'm an engineering prof., I work with these kinds of things for a living and for fun. Anyone remember the C43AMG superbowl challenge (last finger off the car on your phone screen wins the car?) I built a robot to track and tap the image of the car during the event. Too bad the site crashed!) Those are my best guesses anyway, I'd be curious what they do!