Last week, Mercedes-Benz issued a press release on its official website. In order to save everyone's time, I will give you a brief summary:
Approved by the German government, Mercedes-Benz L3 autonomous driving is about to be on the road, and users can use it in the first half of next year.
Not many words, but not a small matter.
What is the level of L3 in this set?
To know what level the Mercedes-Benz L3 is, we first need to understand an international regulation: the UN R157.
This is the first binding international regulation for "Level 3" driving automation functions. The regulation was passed in June 2020 and came into force on January 22, 2021.
The introduction of this set of regulations also provides the direction and ideas for car companies to launch their own L3 automatic driving.
Mercedes-Benz's set of things is to meet this set of regulations and then get regulatory approval.
1. The direction of the regulation is the Automated Lane Keeping System (hereinafter referred to as "ALKS");
2. After the system is activated, it will control the speed of the car and the distance from the car in front (the running speed should not be higher than 60 km/h), so that the car can drive in the lane;
3. The system can respond to and react to sudden traffic situations on its own (however, in case of emergency, it still needs to be taken over by the user).
You can understand this: The current Daimler L3 is intelligent driving for single-lane congestion assistance (speed limit of less than 60km/h). That is, L3 in a specific scenario.
From a functional point of view, it seems, as if, it is not very difficult to implement. After all, many car companies have now launched similar functions, such as BMW, such as GM.
But in fact, it is not easy to do this.
You know, for this lane keeping system, which doesn't seem to be very difficult, the document is more than 60 pages long, and the system security, human-computer interaction, object detection and response, and subsequent upgrades are very clearly defined.
In addition, you can see the hints when compared to existing similar L2 systems.
We take BMW as the new X5 example, here is the official introduction to its traffic assisted driving features:
Also assisted by traffic congestion, BMW also allows the driver to take off his hand to drive, but the driver must keep his eyes in front, and if the vehicle recognizes the driver's unreasonable behavior, the function will be immediately invalidated. The main body responsible for assisting driving is a person.
Also designed with logic is Cadillac's SuperCruise.
In contrast, the Mercedes-Benz L3, after turning on this function (DRIVE PILOT), allows the driver to divert his attention from the road to do his own things: such as surfing the Internet, watching movies, replying to emails, and so on.
The same is free hands, one needs you to keep an eye on the road, one can free you out. This is the difference in experience.
In addition, the L2 is the driver, but the L3 is the manufacturer, which is the difference in the determination of responsibility.
Although it is only a difference of a number, it is "lost in a millimeter, and a thousand miles in fallacy".
Behind this switch of responsible subjects, we can see the technical confidence of Mercedes-Benz.
One of the temperaments of traditional car manufacturers is to insist on "safety first". Nowadays, Mercedes-Benz is contrary to conservative norms, taking the lead in realizing the first landing of new technologies, which is actually a manifestation of technical confidence and heritage.
Moreover, there is actually a heavy responsibility behind this switchover. Because the L3 is now online, in many scenarios, the main body responsible for the accident has become Mercedes-Benz itself.
Previously, the industry has had too many accidents because of autonomous driving. In this case, announcing the landing of L3 actually requires a great deal of courage.
As for how this L3 experience is, that's the end of the story.
In addition, Mercedes-Benz has also provided other OEMs with development ideas and templates: how should L3 autonomous driving be done?
In order to achieve this set of L3, Mercedes-Benz is allocated in hardware and software as follows:
Lidar: 1 (Valeo 2nd generation SCALA lidar)
Millimeter wave radar: 5
Camera: 1 rearview + 4 surround view + 1 DSM (driver monitoring) + 1 front view (visual inspection)
Ultrasonic sensors: 12 pcs
Positioning: High precision positioning + HD map
The electrical and electronic architecture should also be revolutionized, with a central control unit for autonomous driving-related processing, providing software support and algorithm redundancy.
In addition, the steering, braking, and on-board electronic control systems also have corresponding backup and redundancy designs.
In the present view, this configuration belongs to the upstream level of the industry.
However, even with such advanced sensors, Mercedes-Benz now only dares to use it to achieve automatic driving in relatively low-speed scenarios.
In contrast, in China, all aiming at high-speed pilot assistance, NOP (Weilai), NGP (Xiaopeng), NOH (Great Wall), NDA (GAC Ean), ZAD (Extreme Krypton), English words have been occupied.
This is also a very interesting phenomenon, as for the follow-up industry trend, we have to continue to observe and observe.
Pressure came to the side of the new forces
At this time, the most stressful should be the new forces.
Why?
Earlier, Ji Yu, vice president of Xiaopeng Motors, said: "Adhere to the self-research of intelligent technology to create the deepest moat."
Ideal Car Li Xiang also said: "If it is not electrified and intelligent, there is no advantage as a new force in car manufacturing."
These are actually the reasons why new forces can rise and frantically exert intelligent driving and intelligent cockpits.
But now, to put it bluntly, traditional car companies are using their actions to punch the new forces in the face, well, the faces of all the new forces.
At the beginning of the year, the first to achieve the L3 was Honda, and at the end of the year, it ended with the Mercedes-Benz L3.
Well, the co-authors of L3 are all traditional giants.
Although the new forces have launched the pilot auxiliary function, one is the L2 that you need to keep an eye on, and the other is the L3 that can liberate you.
Which experience is better, in fact, has been decided.
Unconsciously, in the autonomous driving, which all new forces are frantically investing in, the traditional giants are now pressing on one.
They seem to be saying: New forces, your moat, not deep at all :)
According to the traditional practice of large manufacturers, new technologies will be used first in the most powerful models, and then dimensionality reduction will be rolled out on the scale of other models.
Mercedes-Benz also said: "Many years ago, Mercedes-Benz has carried out extensive road testing in global markets such as China and the United States."
"Once other markets have developed a legal framework for conditional autonomous driving, in particular allowing drivers to use the 3-mode automatic driving mode, the system will also be gradually rolled out in a targeted manner."
Even the word "China" has a blue underlining underneath.
The implication, oh no, is already clear: once compliant, Mercedes-Benz will also launch L3 autonomous driving in the country.
And don't forget, Mercedes-Benz is also deeply bound to the current industry's new favorite Nvidia, and models equipped with Nvidia's autonomous driving solutions will also land in 2024.
By that time, how much more intelligent moat advantages can the new forces have?
Of course, domestic automakers can also use the current policy is not in place as a pretext, but Japan and Germany have loosened the shackles for automatic driving, and it is only a matter of time before the policy framework of China's automatic driving is in place.
And on the higher-dimensional L4 Robotaxi, Beijing has already set a precedent for charging from the policy level, which is actually a signal.
So, the ugly words are ahead, if next year this "fig leaf" is also ripped off, then we will know who is swimming naked.
So, new forces, come on, oh no, power up!
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