If you see someone on the highway busy with their phone or makeup instead of steering the wheel, don’t worry. In some places, it’s legal if they’re in a new Mercedes with self-driving technology. Mercedes has become the first company to sell cars that can drive themselves, allowing people to go hands-free. So far, they’ve sold around 65 of these autonomous vehicles in California and also in Nevada.
Mercedes, a luxury car manufacturer, has made history by being the first to sell self-driving cars to the public. These cars allow passengers to go hands-free. So far, at least 65 such autonomous vehicles have been sold in California. Mercedes has also started offering these cars at selected dealerships in Nevada. However, the exact number of sales remains unconfirmed by Mercedes.
These Mercedes Level 3 cars, which can drive themselves under certain conditions, were first sold in December. Currently, only California and Nevada permit the sale of this technology to the public. Both states gave Mercedes the green light to start selling these cars last year.
Mercedes’s self-driving technology, known as Drive Pilot, can be turned on when certain conditions are met. These include situations like traffic jams, daytime driving, on specific highways in California and Nevada, and when the car is moving at less than 40 mph. The driver can do other things until the car tells them to take over. However, this technology doesn’t work on roads that Mercedes hasn’t approved, including highways in other states.
This marks a new level of self-driving technology available to the average person in the U.S. Mercedes is the first car maker to achieve level 3 capabilities, while others like Tesla are still at level 2. This means their cars can do some tasks but need the driver to keep an eye on things. However, some drivers ignore this and use the cars as if they can do more than they really can. There have been cases where this has led to accidents, with claims that Tesla oversold its technology as fully autonomous. Last year, California’s DMV accused Tesla of false advertising over this issue.
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Waymo cars from Alphabet and Cruise’s autonomous vehicles from GM are at level 4. This means they can drive themselves in most situations without needing a person to take over. However, these companies don’t sell their cars to people yet. Cruise even had to stop its service because of a problem where a car pulled a person along the road for 20 feet.
In the U.S., people can pay $2,500 a year to get Drive Pilot in 2024 EQS sedans and S-Class models from Mercedes Benz. This self-driving car technology was first sold in Germany, Mercedes’ home country, in May 2022. In Europe, it costs between 5,000 and 7,000 euros ($5,300 and $7,500) for three years.
These cars have turquoise lights on the mirrors, headlights, and taillights. These lights let other drivers and the police know when the car is driving itself. Only certain models with the right equipment, like a sensor at the front and a camera at the back, can use Drive Pilot.
Mercedes is also trying to make cars that can drive at level 4. Markus Schafer, the company’s chief technology officer, thinks this will be possible by 2030. But getting to level 4 is harder than getting to level 3. At level 3, a person still needs to be ready to take over the car sometimes. But at level 4, the car should be able to handle almost everything by itself. A person would only need to take over if the system stopped working. So, the technology needs to be able to deal with almost anything that could happen on the road.
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Source: fortune.com
