Mercedes Drive pilot lets driver play video games in traffic jams, is it a big deal?
Mercedes has released a new version of their “drive pilot” system in high-end cars that will let the driver ignore the road in certain special circumstances, namely some highway traffic jams. It will operate now in Germany, and they are hoping for regulatory approval in California and Nevada by the end of 2022. They call it a “Level 3” system, based on a misguided set of self-driving levels from NHTSA and SAE, and is one of the earliest such systems to be deployed by a car manufacturer. It’s pricey and fairly limited, though it’s notable that Tesla TSLA +7.9% doesn’t do it. They demonstrated it recently as a possible $5K add-on to a S-Class 580.