Autobahn 8, Ulm towards Stuttgart. The Alba descent lies behind the travelers. A Mercedes S-Class is driving in the right lane directly behind a truck. The driver has his eyes on a news magazine, which he is holding with his hands next to the steering wheel. The screen shows a speed of almost 100 kilometers per hour. A scene that will not only become reality on Baden-Württemberg highways next year: The car manufacturer Mercedes hopes that the Federal Motor Transport Authority will certify the software called “Drive Pilot” for highly automated driving up to a speed of 95 kilometers per hour by the end of the year Mercedes would be the first company in the world to make highly automated driving possible at level three of the five-level scale at this speed. “Unlike before, the system can be activated even without a traffic jam in moving traffic on the German motorway,” says Chief Technology Officer Markus Schäfer. “With this milestone, Mercedes underlines its pioneering role on the path to autonomous driving.” With automated driving at level two, the driver is still completely responsible; the systems only assist him. At level three, the car takes over the driving task while the driver can concentrate on other things. Mercedes will first offer this system in its luxury model S-Class for 5950 euros. In the electric counterpart EQS it is a little more expensive. All existing customers who use earlier versions of “Drive Pilot” will receive the current version as a free update. “This is a moonshot for us,” says a spokesman. “Simply because the step from level two to level three is huge – especially at these speeds.” It is now possible to use the time in the car very efficiently. You can watch films, edit emails or read books. “Mercedes’ goal is to offer automated driving at level three up to a speed of 130 kilometers per hour by the end of the decade,” the spokesman explains. BMW and Tesla are also working on autonomous driving. The car needs the system to work a vehicle in front to which the “Drive Pilot” virtually couples; the driver must always be able to take control again within ten seconds. The system will initially come onto the market in Germany next year, provided that the certification goes as Mercedes expects. The car manufacturer BMW also offers a driving system at level three, but only up to a speed of 60 kilometers of the hour – and so far only limited to approved stretches of the motorway network. However, the Bavarian company has announced that it will prepare the cars in its “new class” for highly automated driving at level three. The first model in this series will come onto the market at the end of 2025. Chief Development Officer Frank Weber recently said that the “New Class” will have level three capabilities “at increased speed.” The new 5 Series BMW is the first vehicle to receive approval for partially automated driving at level two up to a speed of 130 kilometers per hour on the motorway. The driver is allowed to take his hands off the handlebars, but must continue to focus all of his attention on the traffic. More on the topic Tesla also sees autonomous driving as an important business for the future. To date, the company has two driving assistance systems on the market: the “Autopilot” function installed as standard in all new cars and the more complex and chargeable “Full Self-Driving” system. Tesla has often faced criticism that the names of these technologies are misleading because they do not allow for fully autonomous driving. They fall below level two on the five-level autonomy scale. The “autopilot” system has also been linked to a number of accidents in recent years and has therefore become the subject of investigations by American traffic safety authorities. However, CEO Elon Musk has defended the technology and said it makes traffic safer. Beyond driver assistance systems, he is also pursuing plans for robotaxis. As early as 2019, he announced that Tesla would have a million such vehicles on the road the following year. They are still a long time coming. Tesla is now planning an event for October 10th at which a robotaxi will be unveiled. The industry is eagerly awaiting this. Musk recently said that autonomous driving activities alone could one day add between $5 trillion and $10 trillion to Tesla’s stock market value.
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