Mercedes's E-Class Set to Automate Driving at Highway Speed - Bloomberg
Drivers of Mercedes-Benz’s new E-Class sedan will have to get used to a startling feeling: the steering wheel moving in their hands as it pilots motorways and country lanes by itself. The technology packing the vehicle shows how quickly automated driving systems have advanced since 1998, when the Mercedes S-Class first featured cruise control that could adjust its speed to follow a car in front. Self-driving systems are among many areas in which Daimler’s Mercedes is working to gain an edge on Volkswagen AG’s Audi and Munich-based BMW AG. Currently No. 3 in luxury-car sales, Daimler is fighting to take the lead in the segment by 2020.... The E-Class, which competes with the BMW 5-Series, Audi A6 and Lexus GS, is Mercedes’s bread-and-butter luxury sedan. Offering options more advanced than those in the flagship S-Class shows how much Daimler is raising the stakes in their battle to reclaim the top spot in high-end cars. Sensors Assist On a drive last week on freeways and country roads in southern Germany near where the E-Class is built, the car’s sensors and cameras smoothly kept it in the middle of the lane. Source: www.bloomberg.com
