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Mercedes autonomous vehicles could do more than just drive

If all goes to plan, Mercedes-Benz autonomous vehicles could be more than just cars – they could serve as our personal assistants.

Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche has revealed his vision for a range of services that cars could perform while the driver is at work. For example, dropping the kids off at school and picking up other family members.

“Everyone is talking about digitalisation and connected cars,” he said to Autocar (UK).

“But software alone will not be able to take you from A to B. It is the total package that will take you from A to B.”

He added that it is the company’s goal that “a passenger gets out of a Mercedes in better condition than when they got in”.

“The car will use its sensors to monitor the health and wellbeing of passengers, and then adjust settings to improve your situation and blood pressure,” he said.

The car could achieve this by automatically adjusting the temperature or lighting, for example.

 

Image: Mercedes
Image: Mercedes

 

Currently however, Mercedes is working on a method for networked cars to communicate with each other and pass on information to make journeys more efficient. Trials are already underway in Germany where in-road sensors can detect nearby parking spaces and inform nearby connected Mercedes-Benz vehicles.

According to Zetsche, this is the first step towards creating “the total package” in autonomous vehicles.

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