Mercedes to test private self-driving cars in China
Mercedes-Benz has become the first international car maker to obtain a Level 4 automated driving test licence for urban roads and highways in Beijing for privately owned vehicles.
“Our plan is to conduct tests on designated roads and highways as part of the research projects carried out by Mercedes-Benz China. It will help us explore cutting-edge technologies in our ongoing development of software and hardware for automated driving systems,” said Markus Schäfer, CTO, procurement and development at Mercedes-Benz.
This builds on the existing ADAS systems, and Mercedes has been offering vehicles for sale with more limited Level 3 self-driving cars in the US for the last year. SAE Level 4 is highly automated driving; in most environments such as freeways and major roads, the vehicle can complete driving tasks without the driver needing to be ready to take over at any time. Level 5 is for any road.
These are different vehicles from the self-driving robotaxis being tested in ten cities in China as well as in San Francisco, California and in Phoenix, Arizona, for ride hailing services. Tier One supplier Bosch started testing L4 driverless cars on German roads over a year ago..
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“Globally, we offer more than 40 driver assistance systems, including enhanced Level 2 features, and are the first car maker with a Level 3 system in the market. With the new approval for testing Level 4 technology in the Beijing area, for later use in privately owned vehicles worldwide, Mercedes-Benz leaps forward on the way to autonomous driving,” said Schäfer.
“This authorisation will not only further accelerate our R&D work in this future-critical field but also underpins our commitment to bringing intelligent products and services to meet the needs of Chinese customers.”
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