The road to full autonomous driving is still long, despite such and such statements from various manufacturers.
In the Level 3 autonomous driving race, Mercedes is winning and is currently starting to offer this capability in some of its models.
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Mercedes is offering the said capability at this stage only on its two flagships (S-Class and EQS), costing € 5,000 and only in Germany at this stage.
The system allows, legally, to stay in the passenger vehicle himself without the driver placing his hands on the steering wheel or looking at the road.
At the moment, this option is only offered on certain roads and up to a speed of 60 km / h.
If the system detects a situation where the driver's intervention is required, it will require him to take control.
Many cars already have some autonomous capability today.
But none of the manufacturers offers such an option legally and openly.
In most vehicles, manufactured by responsible companies, systems can be made to drive the vehicle for a few seconds, after which the driver will be required to put his hands on the steering wheel.
Some will perform an emergency braking process if there is no response from the driver.
Others, from less supervised manufacturers, will allow further travel in the said situation.
Mercedes, is the first to offer such a legal and true approved capability.
The models mentioned in the system combination can currently travel on 13,000 km of roads defined as suitable in Germany.
Next up Mercedes hopes to allow similar use in Nevada and California as well.
As for Israel, there is still no expectation.
It is perhaps worth noting that despite many statements in the last decade about autonomous driving, progress there is still quite slow.
And in the same breath, it should be mentioned, that Mercedes uses all known types of sensing, including Lidar.
Unlike various car and technology companies, which claim to be satisfied with smart cameras and sensors, Mercedes is now proving that fully autonomous driving requires more sophistication and investment.
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