“At Mercedes-Benz we are fully committed to making the charging of battery electric vehicles easier and more affordable,” explains Markus Schäfer, Member of the Board of Management of Mercedes-Benz Group AG, Chief Technology Officer, Development and Procurement. “By choosing MN8 Energy and ChargePoint as our partners in North America – two of the leaders in their respective industries – will be able to continue leading the transformation towards an electric future, which is one of the main pillars of our holistic and sustainable business strategy.”
Much more tangible than the recharging network, which as mentioned will be completed in four years, is the super-autonomous car that Mercedes is exhibiting on its stand until Sunday, the VISION EQXX. It is the most efficient electric car ever made by Stella, capable of traveling over 1,200 km on a single charge. It made headlines last summer with an average energy consumption of 8.3 kilowatt hours per 100 kilometers en route from Stuttgart to Silverstone in the UK.
Third novelty: the automatic lane change function, ready to be rolled out on the North American market and which allows the car to initiate a lane change autonomously and overtake slower vehicles with cruise control engaged. The system – named with the abbreviation ALC – is a further expansion phase of the Mercedes Benz SAE Level 2 partially autonomous driving function, in which the driver remains responsible at all times. To use ALC, the speed of the Active Distance Assist DISTRONIC function must be set. Active Steering Assist (activated by default) does the rest. The car continuously monitors its surroundings through a series of radar sensors and cameras to overtake slower cars on the motorway. Once overtaken, the vehicle can assist in returning to the original lane. ALC can also initiate an automatic lane change to help follow active route guidance when approaching off-ramps or motorway junctions.
Staying on the subject, Mercedes promises that its cars in California and Nevada will soon be equipped with SAE level 3 conditioned automated driving. On suitable sections of motorway and where traffic density is high, DRIVE PILOT will offer the option of taking over the lead, initially up to the legally permitted speed of 60 km/h.
On the other hand, on the side of on-board entertainment, the Chief Software Officer of Mercedes-Benz, Magnus Östberg, illustrated the brand’s strategic plans. Thanks to the collaboration with Apple Music, a Mercedes is now the first non-Apple device to natively offer spatial audio with Dolby Atmos by Apple Music. “With this new audio standard, Universal Music Group, the world‘s largest music label, allows their artists to base their song approval process on the sound of the final mix in a Mercedes and to introduce the ‘Approved in a Mercedes- Benz” as a reference sound standard. This is made possible by integrating Dolby Atmos immersive audio into optional Burmester high-end 4D and 3D audio systems with the latest generation of MBUX. This is how we at Mercedes-Benz create desire: by seamlessly combining technology to amaze the user”.
Another partnership on the same front that between Mercedes and the digital entertainment platform ZYNC, which takes the streaming of content in the car to a new level. Both companies took advantage of CES 2023 to announce the details of the collaboration, which brings new curated content and integrated streaming specific to the North American market. Joining Magnus Östberg were ZYNC founder and CEO Rana June, who explained how her company combines all streaming services seamlessly on one platform, allowing passengers to stream content to their screens throughout the journey. and to all occupants when parked.