Smartphone integration, car-to-car comms on the menu as E-Class takes over as Benz technology leader
MOVE over S-Class, the next Mercedes-Benz E-Class is set to become the brand’s tech flagship, with a number of world-first features. Although the W213 E-Class is still at least six months from production and won’t hit Australian showrooms until late 2016, Mercedes-Benz has revealed some of its innermost secrets. The E-Class will introduce at least four world firsts, in safety, convenience and driver assistance. Engineers promise it will include semi-autonomous driving aids a level above those that wowed the world when the current S-Class was revealed only two years ago. Further, the E-Class will gain a couple of technologies that lift Mercedes to parity in related areas with what is offered by BMW and Audi. Mercedes-Benz hasn’t revealed the exterior or interior of the new E-Class yet, but Wheels has caught the new model testing. It will share its MRA (Modular Rear-drive Architecture) with the current S-Class, but will leapfrog the bigger Benz with a more extensive suite of tech that will eventually trickle up to the flagship. The new E-Class will ditch the current range of V6 powerplants, reverting instead to inherently smoother in-line six-cylinder engines. These modular engines will be closely related to the four-cylinder units offered in the entry-level E-Class, in an approach fast becoming the industry norm. There will also be more hybridisation, as confirmed at January’s Detroit motor show.
IT CAN DRIVE ITSELF
EQUIPPED with more advanced sensors and data-processing than the S-Class, the new E-Class moves a step closer to full autonomy. Highlights are the new car’s ability to follow traffi c ahead, in its lane, at speeds from 0 to 200km/h, and the ability to steer at up to 130km/h even when lane markings are absent. Stuttgart is working on protocols for the car to hand control back to the driver. With today’s laws requiring hands on the wheel, this isn’t an issue. But in the future, when the car has been in control for an extended period, the driver can become deeply involved in other tasks. Making sure they’re ready to resume driving, say at the end of the motorway, is a necessity.
USING NFC (Near Field Communication radio technology, a smartphone can bec is already built into many modern smar tech that enables contactless payment s requirement of the phone or its SIM is t store encrypted data. Mercedes engineer demonstrated the system by opening an HTC phone gently against the doorhand Digital key will be an option on the W21 other Mercedes models. YOU CAN UN IT WITH YOU SMARTPHON s), a very short-range ome a car key. NFC tphones – it is the systems. The other he ability to securely r Santiago Pena Brossa n app and touching his dle of a new E-Class. 3 and will spread to
No comments:
Post a Comment