https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a4...mous-us-debut/

The 2024 Model Year S and EQS will debut the option for drivepiloot, which will work initially on certain highways in Nevada. The 2024 S and EQS will hopefully begin US sales in third quarter of this year

 

Considering the regulatory changes and the limitations with speed, location, and situation where it's possible to use it; I'm doubtful much use will be had for a few years. I say this as someone who has already been through two cars that had matrix lighting that was never enabled and this one may go the same way for three.

Cool tech, don't get me wrong. I just don't think I'd pay for it unless I had some reason to believe there was a realistic chance I'd get to use it.

 

Only 24 and newer cars will have this option? It's not backwards compatible current models? Probably only with monthly subscription services? Is this how it works in Europe?

 

MB saw that Tesla can charge thousands for full self driving, but never actually deliver on the promise. There's always somebody with more money than brains.

 

Nope, it's not possible to retrofit. There's several additional hardware that is required and steering and such requires redundant setups. Basically would have to tear apart the car to fit all the required hardware and even need new body panels, specifically the roof to fit the high precision GPS antenna. Yes, a subscription is required as the system relies on highly accurate map data that's accessed via the online connection and constantly kept up-to-date. The regular map data from the navigation system cannot be used.

 

Kinda lame it only works up to 40mph.

 

I think just the opposite.
I cannot imagine how much more dangerous it will be when the Drive Pilot is allowed to drive at higher speed.

 

Porsche has their traffic jam assist which works great but as the name implies, only at low speed. Despite that limitation, I found it useful for those times when rush hour was unavoidable. The key is that it worked everywhere, no waiting for it to be enabled, no need for curated freeways, no monthly fee, etc. You just had to touch the wheel every so often.

They way they describe this it sounds more limited in the near term, and probably for some time to come?

 

Seems our W222 has a longer hands-free distronic mode than the W223 before you have to touch the wheel.

I can see a future where folks could do some auto-pilot funny sticker stuff like place reflective stop sign stickers randomly or cover over the numbers on speed limit signs with higher numbers.

 

Sadly the geography I live in does not allow me to get that feature , the roads sucks in Ukraine , and the parking spaces also suck.

 

Why are you staying in Ukraine if you are Turkish? Nobody forcing you to stay there, at least nobody from Ukraine. How about the roads and parking spaces if you moved one more country towards east? Perhaps less busy fixing damage from bombs.

Sorry about the off topic but you seem to expect some special hospitality for foreigners from a country under a brutal attach.

 

I'll tell you, I just picked up a 2021 Model S Plaid as a second daily driver that has FSD. While the thing isn't ready for prime time on the streets, on the highways its unbelievable. If you take it on a rather uncomplicated route, even on city streets its rather amazing. Once you start throwing in some tough scenarios it's alot like a student driver LOL. Mercedes system is really impressive from what I can see but by the time they approve it for the whole country the S class will be fully electric and who knows what it'll cost.

 

Yeah, simple routes and highway is not the issue, but that won't make full self-driving. The previous owner must have had a high enough driving score to get FSD. Not sure if you are aware, but Tesla scores your driving and if you fall below a certain score they take FSD away. Musk doesn't want bad press.

 

No more safety scores as of 8 weeks ago roughly. Now FSD Beta is wide release to all cars who pay/paid for it. I made sure to find a car that some dummy already paid for the whole package as not a chance in hell I was shelling out 15k, LOL. I've had lots of big cars and tested lots of these types of systems, BMW's in my last 2020 M760 murdered my new 2022 S580 even while on simple highways. The tesla however, makes the systems in either of those cars feel like something prehistoric. Even if you remove FSD, and just utilize there AP system which is essentially equivalent to whats in our S580 now there is no comparison. The way it takes curves, changes lanes, it honestly surprised the hell out of me just how capable this thing is. Honestly I don't know why the S580 is so limited with there ACC as they've been doing it forever.

 

So, the MB system actually deliberately doesn't steer the car perfectly as it forces the driver to remain attentive. MB basically realized that if the system is too perfect, the drivers check out, which is evident from all the Tesla accidents with AP turned on. Just ask yourself, when was the last time you read in the news about a Mercedes crashing while the assistance systems were used? As far as the capabilities of FSD goes, I actually just watched a series of videos from some guy testing it and filming while it was trying to turn into bike lanes and such and he even hit some pylons that separated the car lane from the pedestrian path and the car drove right into the pylons. The system also has serious trouble in Europe recognizing the speed limit signs. It's been a long standing complaint, and AP is plagued by phantom braking, which is another major long standing complaint. Now lets not even get started on what happens with snow on the road. I mean we are so far from actual full self-driving, all the hype around it is not even funny anymore.

 

Not sure about all that. From my limited experience with it, it's been really good. Now I don't make YT videos for a living and drive with it for 20 hours a day either but so far aside from a few situations where it acted like a student driver it's been pretty remarkable. I think the people who expect it to actually drive itself are the ones who are dissapointed. For me any car with these systems are solely there to take the stress out of driving long distances and getting fatigued. Unfortunately from everything I've seen MB is the worst out of almost all MFG's. I don't know where you hear they deliberately steer the car incorrectly, as this isnt my experience with it whatsoever. If the car is on a relatively straight stretch of road with minimal curvatures and heavy turning it'll behave just fine. You know for a 157k car you expect much ore out of MB then many other MFGs', at least I did.

 

It's in larger radii turns where it doesn't fully steer on its own. You have to help it along deliberately. Even in a straight line it has a tendency to kinda bounce left and right at least in case of my AMG, but that might be because of the stiffer suspension. I actually do very long road trips. At times up to 12 hours of driving in a single day and the system does do great on highways. I don't have to correct much and it keeps me alert and avoids fatigue. So don't know. I find it just at the right level to still enjoy driving, but have it take over some of the tasks like constantly adjusting my speed if somebody ahead doesn't manage to drive at a constant speed. Lane changes are also pretty good and I only need to touch one of the touchpads on the steering wheel every 30 seconds to dismiss the warning and largely drive handsfree.

Now it must be said, that AMG tunes these systems specifically for their cars, so I wouldn't be surprised if it actually worked better in an AMG. I have honestly never used it in a regular MB. My experience is purely with the AMG models.

 

My question is that for a level 2 driving assistance, it should be able to maintain the lane perfectly. I am facing the same problem on highways. I need to actively keep it in the lane and nudge the car to come back to the lane. I feel it is a letdown. Whereas, my friends' Audi or Hyundai do not have that issue!

 

Aside from there potentially being an issue with your car's sensors, I think some people don't understand that MB's Active Steering Assist is not just a Lane Keeping Assist. Let me give you a scenario. You are driving in your lane and a car next to you in the adjacent lane is moving closer to you. What do you do? Do you stay in the middle of your lane or do you move away from that car?

Active Steering Assist does the latter. I don't have any recent experience with BMW, but Audi's system is purely a lane keeping assist and blindly follows the lane markers, regardless of what's going on ahead of you or next to you. MB's system doesn't do that. In fact MB's system continues to work even if there are no lane markers as long as it can follow other cars. That's the part that will make the car not necessarily drive in the center of the lane. If the car in front of you hugs one side of the lane, your car will do the same. It does that because it thinks the car in front of you is doing it for a reason. For example in Europe by law you have to form a rescue alley on the Autobahn in stop & go traffic, so that emergency vehicles can get through. So as the cars in front move to one side of the lane, your car follows to leave room for emergency vehicles instead of sticking to the middle of the lane. Or the car in front of you may try to avoid debris on the road. Wouldn't it be good for your car to do the same before it's too late and you are driving over it?

Same happens if the cars next to you don't quite manage to stay in their lane and move closer to you. The Active Steering Assist will respond to that and move away from them. It truly is an Active Steering Assist and not just a I-follow-the-lane-markers-no-matter-what assist.

I can only speak for my car and the loaners I had, but I don't have to constantly correct. I actually mostly drive handsfree and every 30 seconds I touch one of the touchpads on the steering wheel to let it know I'm still paying attention when it warns me to keep my hands on the wheel. Occasionally, I have to help it along, but for the most part it drives itself and follows the other traffic, as said moving away from cars that are about to encroach my lane and move with the traffic ahead if there's a lane diversion or something.