On the Way to Autonomous Driving

Baden-Württemberg is setting the pace for the mobility of tomorrow

“Daimler” has the development expertise for autonomous driving – and Baden-Württemberg is open to innovation. Which means that the federal state is setting the pace for the mobility of tomorrow. Mid october the major progress on the way towards autonomous driving and the necessary parameters were the focus of the visit to “Mercedes-Benz” by Thomas Strobl, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for the Interior, Digitisation and Migration in Baden-Württemberg.

"Automated and autonomous driving are central topics in vehicle development at Mercedes-Benz. Self-driving vehicles in particular open up fascinating possibilities for the urban traffic of tomorrow. As part of the 'Intelligent World Drive', we are testing automated driving functions in e.g. the dense traffic of Shanghai or Los Angeles. We will be gradually bringing these technologies to market in the next few years. To this end we also need an internationally harmonised legislative framework," says Ola Källenius, member of the Daimler AG Board of Management for Corporate Research & Mercedes-Benz Cars Development.

The Stuttgart-based (near Karlsruhe) automotive company is an advocate of an internationally harmonised legal framework for automated and autonomous driving. There is a need for action, especially in relation to international agreements on road traffic law, which set the binding framework for national legislation and which currently still compulsorily require a driver. Further changes are also important with regard to vehicle certification as well as data storage.

"Development progress towards automated driving is especially important for Baden-Württemberg as the birthplace of the automobile," said Deputy Minister President Thomas Strobl. "We have always been well-advised to seek technological solutions to challenges. This is one of the great strengths of Germany, and Baden-Württemberg in particular. Daimler modestly forecast sales of around one million vehicles worldwide in his time, and attributed this to the shortage of available chauffeurs. In view of the more than one billion vehicles on the roads of the world today, he was quite wrong," Minister Strobl emphasised. "Automated driving is now our contribution to ensuring that in the near future, the vehicle and driver can be one and the same." (ps)

Infos: Autonomous driving is one of the four strategic areas for the future which form an integral part of the corporate strategy of “Daimler AG” under the acronym “CASE”. “CASE” – these letters are shaping the future of mobility. They stand for networking (“Connected”), autonomous driving (“Autonomous”), flexible use (“Shared & Services”) and electric drive systems (“Electric”). The aim is to shape intuitive mobility for customers through intelligent dovetailing of the “CASE” topics. With the "Intelligent World Drive", Mercedes-Benz is testing automated driving functions and their current limitations in situations typical of different countries on all five continents, using a vehicle based on the current S-Class. Between now and January 2018, this S-Class will face a variety of complex traffic situations for test purposes. This means that in addition to the already existing and planned development and test vehicles in different countries, it will gather valuable experience on the way to autonomous driving.