Photo: Mercedes-Benz
The new generation of the Mercedes-Benz GLE was only introduced last autumn, but the car is already getting ready to take on a more active role in society, putting new clothes and ever more technology to become the ideal test bed for new safety systems.
In June, at the Experimental Safety Vehicle convention in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, Mercedes will show a specially prepared GLE named ESF 2019. In its new guise, the car takes safety features to whole new levels and wraps them in a package that comes with a plug-in hybrid system and an extensively autonomous driving mode.
Seeing how autonomous driving is slowly becoming the new holy grail in terms of safety systems, Mercedes' ESF features a technology that allows the steering wheel and pedal cluster to automatically retract when the car is driving by itself, thus reducing the risk of injury in case of a crash.
To make it safe to all other motorists and pedestrians on the road, the ESF communicates at all times its intentions by displaying various messages for all to see.
"The great advantage of automating driving functions is that in the future, fewer accidents will be caused by driver error," said in a statement Rodolfo Schöneburg, Mercedes-Benz head of vehicle safety.
"However, automated and driverless vehicles also come up against physical limits, and there will undoubtedly be mixed traffic consisting of automated and non-automated vehicles for many years."
In case the car is involved in an accident, a small robot is automatically deployed from the car's rear and takes up the position a warning triangle would normally occupy, so that others are aware of something going on ahead.
These are only a few of the innovations the carmaker will show in Eindhoven. Full details on the others can be found in the document attached below.
Mercedes-Benz has been making experimental safety vehicles for decades now and has around 30 such machines in its portfolio. The current one will be shown to the general public this fall, at the Frankfurt International Motor Show.
Seeing how autonomous driving is slowly becoming the new holy grail in terms of safety systems, Mercedes' ESF features a technology that allows the steering wheel and pedal cluster to automatically retract when the car is driving by itself, thus reducing the risk of injury in case of a crash.
To make it safe to all other motorists and pedestrians on the road, the ESF communicates at all times its intentions by displaying various messages for all to see.
"The great advantage of automating driving functions is that in the future, fewer accidents will be caused by driver error," said in a statement Rodolfo Schöneburg, Mercedes-Benz head of vehicle safety.
"However, automated and driverless vehicles also come up against physical limits, and there will undoubtedly be mixed traffic consisting of automated and non-automated vehicles for many years."
In case the car is involved in an accident, a small robot is automatically deployed from the car's rear and takes up the position a warning triangle would normally occupy, so that others are aware of something going on ahead.
These are only a few of the innovations the carmaker will show in Eindhoven. Full details on the others can be found in the document attached below.
Mercedes-Benz has been making experimental safety vehicles for decades now and has around 30 such machines in its portfolio. The current one will be shown to the general public this fall, at the Frankfurt International Motor Show.
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