Tesla is the global leader in autonomous self-driving cars — or, at least, that’s what you might think if you listen to Elon Musk. However, another manufacturer pushed automotive technology forward decades before Elon Musk was even born: Mercedes. This German giant has pioneered technology like electric windows, frameless windows, crumple zones, anti-lock brakes, electronic stability programs, multilink suspension, and a smorgasbord of combustion engine innovations. With such a spirit of innovation, it’s no surprise Mercedes has been heavily focused on developing self-driving systems for years now. In fact, its Drive Pilot system makes Tesla’s FSD look unsophisticated and outdated.
But how good is Drive Pilot?
Well, Drive Pilot is a Level 3 autonomous system, unlike Tesla’s FSD, which is a Level 2 autonomous system. In fact, Drive Pilot is the first, and currently only, Level 3 system to hit the market. To classify as a Level 3 system, it needs to be conditionally fully autonomous. This means that in certain circumstances, the driver can legally take their hands off the wheel, eyes off the road, and relax. In fact, if a Mercedes using Drive Pilot gets into an accident while under this conditional automation, it’s actually legally Mercedes at fault, not the driver! A Level 2 system, by contrast, the driver always needs to be paying attention and ready to take over at the drop of a hat. As such, a Level 2 system isn’t considered autonomous and is, instead, a “driver assist” system.
While Drive Pilot has been available to purchase in California since late last year, Autocar recently got to test it around the streets of Beijing. The Drive Pilot-equipped S-Class could go fully autonomous, with the driver paying zero attention to the road on certain roads around the city at speeds limited to 37 mph (60 kph). The auto journalists found a few “bugs” with the system. Namely, the vehicle would be overly cautious and happily trade road position for safety, making it a little trigger-happy with the brakes. Mercedes engineers reassured the journalists that this should be expected as it is a prototype (as they haven’t finalised the version of the feature for China) and that they are “putting the final touches to the software.” Despite these shortcomings, Autocar journalists were deeply impressed by the system’s ability to manage lane changes, traffic lights, complex junctions, U-turns, emergency vehicles and pedestrians exceptionally well. They even claimed this test “proved Mercedes-Benz is close to realising its goal of level 3 autonomous driving.”
You can buy Drive Pilot in the US and use it fully autonomously on some Californian roads for $2,500 annually. However, Mercedes is looking to expand its usability to the rest of the US and is conducting tests in other countries like China to release the system there.
How does this compare to Tesla’s FSD? Well, Tesla’s FSD is cheaper at only $1,188 per year. However, that is only because they had to cut the price in half to attract more customers, despite Musk’s claims that FSD is worth $100,000 per vehicle. But why aren’t people buying FSD? Well, Tesla’s own data shows that FSD buyers only use the system 15% of the time, and the feature is being massively investigated by multiple governmental bodies for fraud, negligence and possible manslaughter, as the system does not perform as advertised. There are also multiple class action lawsuits over how dangerous the system actually is. It’s also only a Level 2 system, and Tesla seems to be doing none of the legal work to make it Level 3. What’s more, thanks to Musk’s decision to only use cameras and not adopt advanced sensors like lidar, 4D radar and ultrasonic arrays, which give these systems important redundancy safety and higher accuracy (which Drive Pilot uses), FSD might never be able to legally reach Level 3.
Moreover, Mercedes is developing their self-driving offering by the book and keeping things ethical. It is developing it in-house rather than using the public to beta test the feature. It is slowly rolling the feature out on roads it knows it can work consistently on. It works closely with governments to ensure its self-driving operations are safe and above board. Also, the fact that Mercedes did the leg work to ensure it is liable if any accidents happen when the system is fully autonomous shows it is willing to bear the brunt of this burgeoning technology, not its valued customers. Compare this to the ethical nightmare of Tesla’s FSD and the tsunami of litigation that follows it.
So, Drive Pilot is a more capable system, is also significantly more ethical, and exists far more squarely within the law than FSD. Not only that, but it seems Mercedes has spent far less developing Drive Pilot than the tens of billions of dollars Tesla has spent on FSD. As long as Mercedes continues to expand where Drive Pilot can be used fully autonomously and does so quickly, I genuinely think they will burry Tesla’s FSD.
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Sources: Autocar, Mercedes, Top Gear, Car And Driver, Automotive Drive, Forbes, Will Lockett, Planet Earth & Beyond