TecDay "Autonomous Mobility"
Press Information
How autonomous driving revolutionizes
the interior
17 November 2014
Stuttgart/Sunnyvale. Relaxing travel lounge or mobile office: the
luxury saloon of the future will provide the option of autonomous
driving, offering people totally new freedoms. In future, the car will
take on more than ever the character of an individual retreat in
urban traffic. Mercedes-Benz provided a virtual preview of what the
future holds with an innovative interior concept for an autonomous
luxury vehicle presented at the TecDay "Autonomous Mobility". The
trailblazing "interior of the future" also demonstrates new
dimensions in communication and interaction with the vehicle.
Mercedes-Benz has already turned the vision of autonomous driving
into reality with the S 500 INTELLIGENT DRIVE and the Future Truck
2025, and is now pursuing its work on concrete ideas for the future
shape of autonomous driving.
Autonomous vehicles will be commonplace and socially accepted in the
cities of the future. This new dimension in mobility will be accompanied by
social and technical changes. With the new luxury-class interior concept,
the car of the future will be more than purely a means of transport –
rather, it will become a variable and private area of retreat in increasingly
dense urban traffic. By virtue of this new form of travel, the occupants of
autonomous vehicles will have the freedom to put their time spent
travelling to even more varied use.
Daimler Communications, 70546 Stuttgart, Germany
Mercedes-Benz – A Daimler Brand
"We are convinced that autonomous driving will be a central factor on the
way to comfortable, accident-free driving," says Prof. Dr Herbert Kohler,
Head of Corporate Research & Sustainability and Chief Environmental
Officer for Daimler AG. "Autonomous driving relieves pressure and stress
in driving situations usually regarded as tedious – for example in
tailbacks, in inner-city areas or on long journeys. At the same time, it
opens up new ways in which people can make the best use of their time
on the road." Kohler adds: "The time spent in the car acquires a totally
new quality. This is in keeping with the growing desire for privacy and
individuality in a crowded and hectic urban environment."
Elegant and comfortable: mobile living space as a luxury lounge
At the TecDay "Autonomous Mobility" in Sunnyvale, California, MercedesBenz is presenting an outlook on the future with an interior concept for an
autonomous luxury saloon as a virtual 360° experience. For the design of
the interior the engineers, designers and futurologists have evolved an
interdisciplinary scenario and thought through the freedoms that
autonomous driving brings: more space, more time, more ways to
interact. At the same time, the interior reflects the typical Mercedes
interpretation of "Modern Luxury" – generous, elegant and intuitive.
"With this visionary interior concept we are defining the luxury of the
future," observes Gorden Wagener, Head of Design at Daimler AG. "We
have achieved a symbiosis of the virtual and real worlds and realised the
most intelligent solutions in highly aesthetic design."
The pivotal feature of the innovative interior concept is the variable
seating system, with four rotating lounge chairs that allow a face-to-face
seat configuration. This enables the front passengers to turn around and
talk directly to the other passengers while on the move. Or to focus their
attention towards the front as necessary for manual driving. An
extendable steering wheel offers the driver the appropriate options to this
end.
Daimler Communications, 70546 Stuttgart, Germany
Mercedes-Benz – A Daimler Brand
Page 2
Interactive and intuitive: the new definition of convenience
In addition to design, particular attention was paid to use of the interior
space. One central aspect of the innovative interior concept is a
continuous exchange of information between vehicle, passengers and the
outside world. The interior becomes a "digital living space" which is
comprehensively networked as an integral part of the intelligent vehicle
system. The occupants are able to interact intuitively with the vehicle by
means of gestures or touch displays. The system automatically
recognises the wishes of individual occupants for information or the
selection of control functions by sensor detection of eye, hand and finger
movements. The vehicle's surroundings, whether pedestrians, other road
users or the local buildings, are also brought into the interior and
portrayed as fluid all-round information on displays. Embedded in a totally
new sense of space inside the vehicle, Mercedes-Benz's user experience
strategy aims to systematically combine intuitive use with the design
idiom. Information, interaction and communication are the connecting
lines between man, machine and the surroundings.
"Visions are necessary to drive the social discourse on mobility and the
design of the urban environment ahead," says Prof. Dr Herbert Kohler.
"With our innovative interior concept of a luxury lounge for an
autonomous vehicle of the future, we are giving a specific outlook on our
ideas of future mobility. This interior concept forms an essential part of a
new overall vehicle concept which we will be unveiling at the CES in Las
Vegas."
Intelligent Drive: Systematically pursuing the road to autonomous
driving
As the inventor of the automobile, Mercedes-Benz natural assumes a
pioneering role where autonomous driving is concerned. The declared
aim is to develop the automobile further, from a self-moving
("automobile") vehicle to an independent ("autonomous") vehicle. In its
research and development activities, Mercedes-Benz goes well beyond
Daimler Communications, 70546 Stuttgart, Germany
Mercedes-Benz – A Daimler Brand
Page 3
purely technical realisation of automated driving and anticipates various
scenarios. The focus here is always on people: The objective is to be able
to present technically feasible and socially beneficial answers to
questions concerning the mobility of the future, in line with our
comprehensive approach and as part of the company's culture of
innovation. This revolution in mobility requires evolutionary stages. This
means that in the years to come, new and improved assistance systems
will continue to prepare the predefined way towards autonomous driving.
Semi-autonomous driving is already a fact on public roads today – for
example with the Mercedes-Benz models in the S-, E-, C- and CLSClass. One such feature is Stop-and-Go Assist, which automatically
follows tailback traffic and provides steering assistance. When parking
with the aid of Active Park Assist, the technology chooses a suitable
parking space and takes over the steering. The driver only needs to
accelerate and brake. Mercedes-Benz is continuing its "Intelligent Drive"
strategy with numerous assistance systems and substantially expanded
functions with the aim of systematically enhancing comfort and safety.
Mercedes-Benz has already impressively demonstrated that autonomous
driving is not some future Utopia, but already technically possible even in
complex urban traffic or on inter-urban routes. In August 2013 the
Mercedes-Benz S 500 INTELLIGENT DRIVE based on the new S-Class
and equipped with near-series technology covered the historic, approx.
100-kilometre Bertha-Benz route from Mannheim to Pforzheim completely
autonomously. Mercedes-Benz has also demonstrated its role as an
innovator in the truck sector: in the summer of 2014 the brand presented
the Future Truck 2025 as the world's first autonomous truck. This nearseries study based on the Mercedes-Benz Actros 1845 showed its
extraordinary capabilities at speeds of up to 80 km/h in realistic traffic
situations on a section of the A14 autobahn near Magdeburg.
But it is not only in Germany that the experts at Mercedes-Benz carry out
extensive road trials. The engineers carry out their tests worldwide, e.g.
also in the USA, in order to incorporate different traffic conditions and
Daimler Communications, 70546 Stuttgart, Germany
Mercedes-Benz – A Daimler Brand
Page 4
infrastructure parameters into their development work. Following the
issue of an appropriate licence in mid-September, Mercedes-Benz is one
of the first automobile manufacturers permitted to test autonomously
driving vehicles on public roads in the US state of California. In addition
the company makes use of the USA's largest test facility, the Concord
Naval Weapons Station, for further testing of this future technology. This
test site in the south-western USA has a network of metalled roads similar
to that of a city, and is therefore the ideal location for testing autonomous
vehicles in the most realistic surroundings possible.
Mercedes-Benz experts engaged in a dialogue on the future of
mobility
The TecDay "Autonomous Mobility" forms part of a regularly dialogue of
Mercedes-Benz on the future of mobility. For example, the Future Talk
introduced by Mercedes-Benz in 2013 established a new dialogue format
and asked the question "How Utopian is the future?". In dialogue with the
avant-garde in different disciplines, Mercedes-Benz experts shared their
visions of shaping a desirable mobile future. The focus of the MercedesBenz Future Talk "Robotics" in July 2014 was on the interaction between
man and machine.
Contacts:
Koert Groeneveld, +49 (0) 711 17-92311, koert.groeneveld@daimler.com
Matthias Brock, +49 (0) 711 17-91404, matthias.brock@daimler.com
More information about Mercedes-Benz is available online:
www.media.daimler.com and www.mercedes-benz.com
Daimler Communications, 70546 Stuttgart, Germany
Mercedes-Benz – A Daimler Brand
Page 5