To aid in this effort, the S-Class has been outfitted with a bevy of sensors. You’ve got a pair of short range radio sensors in the front along with two more in the rear, plus a long-range sensor in the grille, a stereo camera behind the rear view mirror, four cameras for a 360-degree view of the car’s surroundings, and 12 ultrasonic sensors. This all works with the Distronic Plus radar-based cruise control system that is getting a major update with the new sedan coming out next year.

In addition to controlling your gas and brake in stop-and-go traffic, there’s also a steering assist feature that will keep you in your lane. It does this by using the various cameras and radar sensors, reading road markings and cars around you at speeds of up to 124mph. Oddly, this “semi-autonomous following” only works when you have your hands on the wheel. The car won’t really “drive itself” unless you’re prepared to drive it too.

Mercedes has also replaced all the light bulbs in the car–both interior and exterior–with LEDs instead. You basically have permanent high beams on, but they’ll dim when the car’s cameras detect another vehicle. That applies to the brake lights too, dimming during the day and getting brighter when you slam on the brake pedal.

There is also Brake Assist Plus with Cross-Traffic Alert to stop the car if you’re about to get T-boned. The front stereo camera will read road signs and display information on your dashboard; the 3rd-gen Night View Assist provides a night vision HUD to avoid nocturnal mishaps; the auto park feature does both parallel and stall parking with complete control of the steering, gas, and brakes; and even the seatbelts have been notched up with added tech, including added airbags and accident energy-dissipating features.

Most of the new features are in the name of safety and while some people may be fearful to relinquish that kind of control to a “smart” car computer, it indicates where the automotive industry is heading. And all those cameras and sensors tell us where we’re heading too.

[Source]

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What’s better than using Siri to navigate through your iPhone? Using SIRI to control many of the functions in your Mercedes-Benz A-Class, that’s what. That’s right, Mercedes’ Digital DriveStyle App and Drive Kit Plus for the Apple iPhone will now tightly integrate iPhone controls into the vehicle’s electronics platform.

What does this mean exactly? For one thing instead of memorizing the car’s commands for controlling things like music and twitter, you will be able to use Siri commands, which should certainly make things a little easier.

It will also allow a special driver controller knob to change music from the iPhone and even post things to the net. Which applications can actually be used will largely be up to Mercedes-Benz, but we do know that Twitter, Facebook and Aupeo! Personal Radio (similar to Pandora) have been tested and seem to work with the new system. The app also adds Garmin navigation which seems to replace CD or DVD-based systems.

This likely means that Mercedes-Benz will be the first manufacturer to integrate SIRI technology into vehicles, but you can pretty much guarantee they won’t be the last.

[ source ]

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The rechargeable lithium-ion battery will allow the popemobile to drive 30 kilometres without spewing any of that nasty CO2 in the faces of God’s followers. Apparently Pope Benedict XVI would not be allowed to use a purely electric-driven car as the popemobile must be able to take off swiftly in the case of an attack on God’s right-hand man. Though EVs aren’t as slow as the Vatican thinks. The Tesla Roadster can accelerate from 0 to 97 km/h in 3.9 seconds. Additionally, the EV Cup will be coming to the US in November, and will feature sports car iRACER, which can reach 96 km/h in under five seconds with a top speed of 185 km/h.  Perhaps the pope has been reading too much in to outdated information.

The project for the new car is under development but not yet finalized, which means we won’t be seeing a green popemobile on the streets of Vatican City until sometime next year.

Photo: Gas 2.0

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You’ve got to hand it to these PR people. Tossing around buzz words like “aerodynamic” and “green energy” just aren’t enough to catch our attention anymore. In the case of Mercedes-Benz, they’re describing the new Concept A-Class as “a car that might have come from another planet.”

Unfortunately, the compact Merc looks like just about any other sporty hatch that seems to be rolling off the production lines these days. Have you seen the Lexus CT 200h or maybe the Honda CR-Z? The Concept A-Class is kind of like those, but with a longer hood and a few more aggressive lines.

The “concentrated dynamism” is capped with a turbocharged four-banger, adaptive Brake Assist (with radar-based warnings), dual clutch transmission, LED headlights, Collision Prevention Assist, and smartphone integration. You use something called COMAND Online to reach your “digital lifestyle.”

I’m not saying that the Concept A-Class, set to be showcased in Shanghai later this month, is a bad car. I just don’t think it’s exactly out of this world.

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Mercedes has announced its SLS AMG E-Cell Gullwing all-electric car will enter production for 2013, though they haven’t given exact dates; or important details such as the price or even the battery’s range or charge time.

But the numbers they are giving are nothing short of awesome: 392 kW (525 hp), 880 Nm (649 lb-ft) of torque, 0-100 km/h in 4 seconds. It’s going to have the same four compact electric motors, liquid-cooled 48 kWh lithium-ion battery pack, multi-link suspension and pushrod damper struts as the prototype they had on display at the 2011 Detroit Auto Show.

The Gullwing is part of the Mercedes-AMG “AMG Performance 2015” strategy, crafted on the goal of continued reduction of fuel consumption and vehicle emissions. But the fact that they’re releasing these specs in lieu of battery performance suggests Mercedes is looking past the typical questions and focuses of the average electric car, opting instead to make a true powerhouse that happens to run on electricity.

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Out of the Los Angeles Auto Show Design Challenge –– which seemed to be based on the premise of having automakers dream up the most irrational 1000 lb. cars possible –– came the Mercedes Benz Biome; easily the most ridiculous concept vehicle in the contest. A car grown in a lab from genetically altered seeds embedded with Mercedes DNA.

According to their press release, the “BIOME symbiosis vehicle” is made from an ultralight material called “BioFibre.” They continue:

“This material is significantly lighter than metal or plastic, yet more robust than steel. BioFibre is grown from proprietary DNA in the Mercedes-Benz nursery, where it collects energy from the sun and stores it in a liquid chemical bond called BioNectar4534. As part of this process, the vehicle is created from two seeds: The interior of the BIOME grows from the DNA in the Mercedes star on the front of the vehicle, while the exterior grows from the star on the rear. To accommodate specific customer requirements, the Mercedes star is genetically engineered in each case, and the vehicle ‘grows’ when the genetic code is combined with the seed capsule. The wheels are grown from four separate seeds.”

Yeah, it’s pretty cool looking. It’s a neat idea. And it could easily be incorporated into the inevitable sequel of Demolition Man, probably parked in front of a Taco Bell.  But between the Biome, the “electric powered rickshaw” and the Toyota seaweed-mobile, what the contest really has me wondering is why car designers are wasting their time thinking up such absurd sci-fi monstrosities rather than pondering tangible solutions to the consumption crisis we’re already facing.

If Mercedes is serious about going eco-friendly, a good first step might be halting the production of their 13 mpg G-class SUVs. But that’s just my opinion.

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