ivanvach

Just talked to a local dealer in California about the availability of 2024 EQS and more particularly the Drive Pilot feature that is legal in CA and NV now.

He said that 2024 EQS will come to USA mid April 2024.
Drive Pilot however will NOT be available until 2025. He mentioned that CA and NV roads and freeways are "not ready" for it yet. He also added that this is 150% confirmed information, inflating the percentage above 100% just to show solid confidence.
I countered that the technology (cameras, lidar, radar, sensors) is supposed to be inside the car and not on the road, but he insisted.

This is puzzling provided the sense of urgency MB officials expressed when applying for permits in CA and NV (other states to follow). If the infrastructure needs to be prepared than why the legal issues were urgent and the technical issues were never mentioned.
That's why I take the dealer's information above with a grain of salt.
However the truth is that 2024 EQS are not here yet and no EQS with drive pilot Level 3 anywhere in sight.
Someone published a photo of one from another US state where it is not legal yet, but I think this would be shipped by mistake or it is some auto show unit.

So folks this is the latest from me. Does anyone know more or different ?

Regards,

BenjaminKohl

I responded in the order guide thread but 2024 Sedan's are already on dealer lots and have been for months. So that's blatantly false. Maybe he means the SUV? And I've seen Drive Pilot for sure on one car alread, at WI Simonson. I made a thread about it. But it was an early production car that could have been mistakenly released, as I havent seen any other S or EQSs with Drive Pilot for sale, but then again I haven't been looking very closely.

BenjaminKohl

https://mbworld.org/forums/eqs/88034...available.html

ivanvach

@BenjaminKohl Yes, I had your posting in mind when I said "Someone published a photo...." . Sorry for being lazy and not finding the link :-( Also not sure why you say that 2024 is widely available provided that the official MB USA web side doesn't show any. Regardless 2024 is not my main point. The availability of Level 3 Drive Pilot is as the headline says.

BenjaminKohl

The "official" mbusa site is so horribly outdated and behind and shouldn't be treated as an actual resource. A quick autotrader search shows 742 2024 EQS Sedan's currently listed, a majoity of which have pictures and are definitley currenty on dealer lots. https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-...EDAN&zip=10605. And that car with drive pilot was already on a dealer lot months ago. So either that dealership doesn't have any Drive Pilot allocations and wants to make you think there's no point in taking your business elsewhere, or is just dumb.

MB37

I honestly think that communication X or whatever that protocol they use for cars to talk to each other, will be more useful to move self autonomous driving forward faster than relaying on something outside the car. If AI is used to help gather information backed on a set of real time data it will be much more reliable then devices outside the car and on the roads. Just think what Google did with location/gps on phones and reporting real time traffic on Google Maps.