Level 3 autonomous driving is a big step up from level 2. While level 2 gives you acceleration and braking control with steering assistance, most require you to keep your hands on the wheel, and all require your eyes to stay firmly on the road. Drive Pilot – the name of the Mercedes-Benz level 3 system – is different. It allows you to take your hands off the wheel and your eyes fully off the road, leaving the car in control, and you free to watch other things.
Available for the Mercedes EQS and the Mercedes S-Class, the first version of Drive Pilot launched two years ago but was limited to 60 km/h (or 40mph in the US). This meant that it was only really deployable in heavy or slow moving traffic. The biggest restriction on this speed has always been regulation and now with the new version, Mercedes expect to get full approval for 95 km/h (59 mph) in Germany by the end of the year.
