Levels 1, Level 2 of autonomous driving systems or advanced driver assistance systems are often mentioned. And so on, grading is developed by SAE by the American Society of Automotive Engineers. At present, even the Tesla Autopilot, known as Full-Self Drive, only reaches the Level 2 level. The only production car equipped with the Level 3 self-driving system is the Honda Legend launched this year. Now Mercedes-Benz has also made significant progress, and its S-Class and EQS Level 3 systems have been approved by UN regulations.
In the SAE classification, from Level 0 to Level 2, the driver must take the main responsibility for the operation of the vehicle, and until the Level 3 driver can let the vehicle take over the driving work in a specific situation, but still need to be ready to take over the control when the system requires it. A few years ago, Audi pioneered the A8 flagship luxury motorhome that supports level 3 autonomous driving systems. But "supportable" does not mean that it can be legally on the road, but now it seems that on the road of automatic driving system development, European car manufacturers may be the first to arrive, but catch up.
Both mercedes-Benz's S-Class and EQS series have been approved by the United Nations UN-R157 autonomous driving regulations, meeting the conditions for the legal use of Level 3 automatic driving systems. This makes Mercedes-Benz the first car manufacturer to truly pass the international automatic driving code, which can indeed be regarded as a considerable progress. Because from Level 2 to Level 3, not only does it just add a level, but in fact it can be regarded as a completely different stage of challenge. Although usage scenarios are severely limited and driving needs to be ready to take over at any time, it is still an advanced technology that has evolved from driver assistance systems to autonomous driving systems.
But one thing that needs to be made clear is that "the adoption of United Nations regulations" and "the adoption of national laws" are two different things. At present, no country directly recognizes and applies the UN-R157 regulations, so even if Mercedes-Benz obtains UN-R157 legal certification, it still needs to apply for approval for the regulations and conditions of each country. Mercedes-Benz is already preparing to test the Level 3 self-driving system in the United States and China, and as long as the local government agrees to the Level 3 technology on the road, it can be installed in the production car as soon as possible.