Mercedes-Benz's First Hands-Free Driving System Requires You to Watch a Long Video

Despite what you might have heard, we're still many steps away from true SAE Level 4 or 5 self-driving automobiles. For now, vehicles that offer a driver-assistance system are operating at SAE's Level 2, requiring the driver to be attentive and ready to take over at any time. This is where Mercedes-Benz Drive Pilot begins to separate itself from the likes of GM's SuperCruise and Ford's BlueCruise in that it is a real SAE Level 3 system—where the car is in full and total control (albeit still needs monitoring). We took a ride in a 2024 Mercedes-Benz EQS sedan in Santa Monica, California to see just what makes it different from a "high-level" SAE Level 2 and the European version of Drive Pilot.

The U.S. and European systems use nearly the same hardware to enable Drive Pilot functionality—the same cameras, the same LiDAR and radar sensors, and similar satellite navigation antennas (the U.S.-market antenna conforms to FCC standards) with an accuracy of under an inch. If you think that sounds like a bit much, how much latitude do you think self-driving cars should be given? Yeah, we figured sub-one-inch accuracy sounds good.

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The biggest difference is that, for U.S. customers, you first need to sit through a seven-minute video on how Drive Pilot works. It explains in detail when you can activate it, what it will look like when it does, and under what conditions it will deactivate. Once you've done that, you're free to use Drive Pilot for the first time—and every time after, you won't have to sit through that video again. You'll just need to acknowledge that you know that Drive Pilot is about to take over by hitting the steering wheel's "OK" button when the prompt pops up on the instrument panel. That's slightly annoying, but it's a part of the mandates to allow Mercedes to have a true, SAE Level 3 car on the roads of California and Nevada. Those are the only two states that have rules that allow for autonomous driving, but as states expand, the HD mapping Mercedes uses as part of the self-driving suite will also be updated.

Mercedes also needed to program Drive Pilot to recognize U.S.-based emergency vehicles, as our emergency response vehicles use different colored lights and sounds. Drive Pilot can discern the sound of an emergency vehicle behind your Mercedes, and determines if it needs to pull over and let the vehicle by. It's also smart enough not to be fooled by your phone playing the sound of an emergency vehicle—it uses the rear cameras to verify what's behind the Mercedes, and its microphones are sensitive enough to determine whether the siren is playin inside or outside the vehicle. We tried to fool it with a YouTube video in Drive Pilot mode, and the system didn't bite.

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Much like driving with BlueCruise or SuperCruise, the idea of taking your hands off the wheel does take a little time to get used to. The good news, from our brief experience with Drive Pilot in Santa Monica, is that you immediately feel confident that the car is in control. It stays centered in the lane without the weaving motion that some systems suffer from, bouncing from one lane width limit to the other. It also is fully capable of controlling itself when it sees a driver about to pull in front of you, something that nearly happened to us during our drive. Drive Pilot cautiously applied the brakes as it moved over to the right slightly, without leaving the lane; we probably would have kept moving without touching the brakes, but we didn't fault Drive Pilot for being cautious.

The only other disappointing part is that Drive Pilot is limited to 40 mph in dry weather conditions, which isn't much of a limitation in the American Southwest where it is debuting. Once you're above that speed or the roadway becomes wet, the system will prompt the driver to resume control. Mercedes has said it's working on removing the speed limit for autonomous driving, a carryover limitation from the European version of Drive Pilot.

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An issue that Mercedes can't fix with hardware or software is using lights to signal when Drive Pilot is active. The turquoise color you find in the cabin and steering wheels is something Mercedes wants to replicate outside the vehicle so everyone around you is aware your car is in autonomous mode. This is something that the SAE recommends that automakers implement, but American federal vehicle safety standards require that only white, amber, and red lighting may be used on passenger vehicles on a public road. Until someone can convince Congress to make autonomous driving indication lights a part of the FMVSS, you won't know if that EQS or S-Class next to you is under human or autonomous control. As we found out, it's accurate enough that externally determining its use might prove difficult.