Why did Mercedes-Benz “sundown” What3words? I cannot find any information about this announcement.

 

What3words is a company whose time has never come. The concept simply isn't viable.
The company only success is that they know how to lose money by the sackful.

• year ending December 2020: Ł16.09 million.
• year ending December 2021: Ł43.29 million.
• year ending December 2022: Ł31.53 million.
• year ending December 2023: Ł16.48 million.

 

Last time I tried on my 2025 E, it worked. Haven't tried in about a month though. Are you saying they stopped supporting what3words? Where did you hear that?

 

When I searched it up, the only thing that is the most recent is reddit and this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/mercedes_be...cedes_anymore/

The post was made 3 weeks ago, so rather recently i guess.

 

I called MB customer service yesterday and the rep read to me an announcement from November 2024 that Mercedes had “sundowned” What3Words.. He had no further explanation. Like the Reddit commentator, I wonder if there’s any way and for owners to express our disappointment in this decision. I found What3Words to be excellent and very helpful. Fortunately, Google maps still uses the service. I will probably just use MB‘s navigation for the only the simplest directions. Thank you for responding.

 

Although it probably would not do much but call Mercedes Me and submit a complaint/suggestion.

 

Someone posted a workaround for getting it to work... For now...

 

That's a neat workaround. I did try sharing it directly out of the what3word app a long time ago and as he said, that didn't work. In theory it's an interesting concept, but in reality it just wasn't adopted, especially in the US. I think in parts of Europe, some emergency services have adopted it and some businesses, but if nothing is really using it this side of the pond, nobody will use it in their cars, either. 99% of people probably didn't even know what it was or even that it exists. The fact that it is proprietary and requires a license is pretty much the last nail in the coffin. I thought I was gonna use it when it initially was supported to get to trailheads and stuff, but I ended up never using it and uninstalled the app from my phone. The thing is to use what3words, you first have to generate it yourself, because nobody posts their what3word location anywhere, so I can just as easily drop a pin in Google Maps for a specific location, and then send it to the car.

There's pretty much no chance for them to ever be profitable. The reason GPS is such a success and spawned numerous location based applications and use cases is because it's a public service. What3words is like trying to make issuing mailing addresses into a for profit business. It's not gonna work. The only chance of adoption would be if it became a public services that everybody ends up adopting.

 

Out of Business.

 

The work around works.

 

Do you find what3words useful though?

 

The What3Words app is supposed to give a more precise location; withing 3 meters. So to answer somewhat precisely, it is useful, but I probably won't use it very often. Mostly I just tell "Hey Mercedes" where I want to go and that works for me. To be honest, the first time I ever sent a location to my car using W3W was when I verified that the work around worked.

 

I see, fair enough.

 

The workaround is an extra step since you can just use Google maps to pin a spot and share with the car. It's only useful if someone gives you a what3words location. I've never had anyone ever do this and I never heard of it until Nick's previous video showing the integration. I thought it was cool and tried it once, but never found it useful enough. I showed it to a few friends and family members who never heard of it before either. It's a neat concept but poor business model and marketing. How do you make money if nobody knows you exist. I'll probably uninstall the app soon.

 

Yep that was my earlier point. It's only useful if somebody else like a business etc. gives you their what3words location of their front door. The app is useful for exactly that. Give your what3word location to somebody else, so they can find you. There's zero value in looking up a location and go through the extra trouble of converting it to a what3word location when a pin does the same thing.

 

True and if MB was wasting money renewing the license for something no one uses, it wouldn't had been a good business decision. It is that sort of thing of which throw everything on and see what sticks.
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