Teams
Autonomous Driving
Mercedes-Benz is taking self-driving cars from the stuff of science fiction to a bold new reality.
We have a long history of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems, beginning with the introduction of Distronic in 1999, the first adaptive cruise control system for passenger vehicles.
Assistive technology from Mercedes-Benz already improves safety and comfort through automatic braking for cars and pedestrians, enhanced night vision, blind spot detection, and a host of other capabilities. Our cars can already park themselves, correct for drifting in lanes, and prevent collisions when a lane change is unsafe. Mercedes-Benz vehicles will drive themselves in most conditions when these existing features are combined with nascent, revolutionary advances such as traffic light and turn lane detection.
Autonomous driving requires detailed map and road knowledge.
Mercedes-Benz’s Autonomous Driving Team is at the heart of the skunk works, imagining and then creating an integrated and intelligent ecosystem as the foundation for completely autonomous driving.
Four teams in the U.S., in conjunction with Daimler colleagues in Germany, lead the way. Our handiwork can be seen in the S500 Intelligent Drive research vehicle as it experiences the roads of America. We absorb the vast diversity and complexity of the U.S. road network and apply a broad range of technologies to bring the autonomous car to fruition.