Mercedes-Benz has introduced its partnership with automotive self-driving applied sciences agency Luminar, so as to speed up growth of autonomous driving applied sciences for its passenger automobiles.
Through the projected shortening of growth cycles and strengthened expertise partnership between the 2 corporations, Mercedes-Benz goals to make sure that its merchandise are outfitted with essentially the most up-to-date applied sciences, the automaker mentioned.
“Mercedes-Benz’s achievement of SAE Level 3 [autonomous driving] already marked a huge milestone for automated driving and I am absolutely convinced that partnerships will increase our level of ambition for what is possible in the future, [and] cooperation is an essential part of Mercedes-Benz’s strategy. Therefore, I am highly delighted to have Austin Russell and Luminar on board for our journey,” mentioned Mercedes-Benz CTO Markus Schäfer.
As a part of the partnership, Mercedes-Benz “will enable Luminar with a data-driven approach” for the continual updating and enchancment of merchandise, the carmaker mentioned in its assertion.
“This partnership is a landmark moment in the industry, demonstrating how substantially increased safety and autonomous driving functions on consumer vehicles are going from science fiction to mainstream. Mercedes-Benz has always been a technological leader and first mover for the industry, with the brand synonymous with automotive innovation, safety, luxury, and quality,” mentioned Luminar founder and CEO Austin Russell.
Drive Pilot, which is Mercedes-Benz’s semi-autonomous driving system, received approval in December from the German federal motor transport authority (KBA) for being provided on public sale, thus making Mercedes-Benz the primary automaker to meet the authorized necessities of UN-R157 for a Level 3 autonomous driving system.
This suite of superior driver help systems by the German automaker was introduced with the debut of the W223-generation S-Class. With Drive Pilot now having met German necessities, the earliest items of the S-Class with the system will ship within the first half of this yr.
