Mercedes-Benz,
always a leader in automotive technology, has
once again raised the bar for the BMWs, Audis, and Lexuses of the world with the Distance Plus radar cruise system
available in new S-Class sedans. Unlike current radar-assisted offerings from companies like Infiniti, Distance Plus
can control the vehicle in both highway and city driving conditions, meaning you can commute from Harlem to Wall Street
down the West Side Highway while sipping your coffee and reading
the Post Engadget on your mobile,
glancing up occassionally to steer. Auto Spies has an exclusive vid of the system in action, which on the surface isn't
that exciting because, well, its mostly just footage of a car driving down the road. The cool part comes when they cut
to the (luxurious) interior of the sedan and focus on the dashboard, where the Distance Plus data is displayed inside
the speedometer as two tiny cars moving towards and away from one another, in response to real world conditions. We're
not sure why they didn't just connect a wire between this system and the built-in GPS and backup cam, which would
obviously have been the only step necessary in making this Benz all Total Recall and stuff.
Update: we were
pointed to a very
interesting German show on Distance Plus, which would appear to demonstrate that it's completely ineffective.
Specifically, a test driver
actually smashes his
Mercedes, presumably while using Distance Plus. Ah, the schadenfreude!
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Joshua Ochs @ Feb 18th 2006 9:47AM
Very cool, but can the name "Distronic" sound any more 60's-70's? It's better than the babble of techno-sounding words used in the 90's (my airbags are a "safety restraint system").
chris @ Feb 18th 2006 9:58AM
great another technology making driving even more boring.. why dont they just make the car drive by itself..
gene @ Feb 18th 2006 10:10AM
http://www.drive.com.au/editorial/article.aspx?id=10759
they tried showing off a "crash-avoidance" system and it didn't quite turn out their way. :X
Shepstar @ Feb 18th 2006 11:04AM
Hi, actually that's not new in the S-Class the old S-Class you could buy that option aswell. I used to sometimes drive a S400CDI which was very nice ;).
The Distronic work the same but didn't work under a speed of (i think) 30 km/h, could also be 15 km/h. But i used that all the time awesome, but also dangerous because you don't focus on driving because the car does most of it itself.
I think the only really new thing is that the distronic can bring the car to a full stop. The second thing which I didn't like about it was that when the car accelerated again after breaking behind a car, most of the time it didn't go slowly back to your old driving speed but it when at full speed which on a S 400 CDI is damn fast and the car shoots down the street.
But mind you the car could have some errors I must say a car that costs 140000,- and every piece of the car keeps falling of and breaking it was the crapiest car I've seen.
And the display with the two cars was in the old model aswell.
But still it was nice driving the S 400 CDI and the sound of the engine was awesome ;)
Michael @ Feb 18th 2006 12:26PM
Funny becuase BMW has had this for about 3 years now...
calum @ Feb 18th 2006 12:36PM
TIS LEXI, not lexusus
Nate @ Feb 18th 2006 12:51PM
I think that is the dumbest thing I have ever seen. What a waste of time and $$.
Brent @ Feb 18th 2006 1:14PM
If you think Mercedes is always a leader in automotive technology, try using their nav systems sometime. They're hopelessly primitive compared to most other major vendors.
infinity @ Feb 18th 2006 1:24PM
about the crash avoidance failure.. I don't understand why they decided to still do it inside after it had failed insided 6 of the last 10 times? After all most people don't drive cars inside and the article said it worked fine outside..couldn't they have just waited for a naturally foggy day and do it outside?
LooP @ Feb 18th 2006 1:47PM
#4, BMW's solution isn't the same as this, but more similar to the original Distronic, which Mercedes introduced 8 years ago.
Mongoos150 @ Feb 18th 2006 1:48PM
No, BMW has not had this technology, their tech does not allow for stop-and-go traffic in the city at low speeds, like the MB does.
SOAD @ Feb 18th 2006 2:03PM
I just bought the 2007 S-class 2 days ago, but it's the "Launch Edition", which comes with basically everything except the distronic plus and rear seat package. It has night vision, rear camera, everything. I LOVE the car!
Donald Buffamanti @ Feb 18th 2006 3:37PM
All the other systems avaialble out their are first generation technology.
This the second gen Distronic Plus that will virtually drive the car for you.
It's especially handy in traffic jams as it's the only one that will crawl you through traffic.
001
LSS @ Feb 18th 2006 7:17PM
Can someone please explain to me why there's been so many stories about on this site about the Mercedes S-Class lately?
Come on guys, do you really think this is news?
The 2007 S-Class, including the full list of features, was released in August of last year, if not sooner.
What's next, you're going to run a story about the fact the S-Class has a button that magically moves your seat forward or backwards?
If you're going to run stories about cars, at least run stories that haven't been out for 6+ months.
Chris @ Feb 19th 2006 2:02PM
Maybe it's not a good idea to spell out a picture of someone reading their mobile phone and sipping coffee while driving. Shoot, we'll have Yuppies killing pedestrians in every city with a population. It's hard enough giving them cell phones while keeping people on foot safe....but if we invite them to stop concentrating on the road.....*shudder*....
Nice technology, though!
Chris @ Feb 19th 2006 5:59PM
http://www.drive.com.au/editorial/article.aspx?id=10759
Distronic works, apparently - unless you're driving it in a steel-lined bunker.
Ryan Gardner @ Feb 19th 2006 11:58PM
Yeah, that guy who did that video of the Mercedes crashing lost his job for false reporting. They weren't using distronic at all - but trying to simulate it.
sxt173 @ Feb 20th 2006 4:56AM
As someone already pointed out, the engineers during the test knew the system would not work in the demo they had. They decided to lay down pieces of wood on the floor to indicate to the driver when to hit the brakes (stupid, stupid move).
Well, due to the cushy suspension, the driver never felt the wood block the car rolled over and simply smashed into the car in front of him. Don't know why they couldn't just move to cars outdoors?!?
Richard @ Feb 20th 2006 9:52AM
So, if you don't want to drive, you could take a bus or buy an S-Class?
Juergen @ Feb 20th 2006 10:04AM
Moving outdoors is not an option because it would not be possible to generate a fog as thick as needed there. Waiting for a foggy day is also not feasable since this was an official PR show with camera teams and reporters. They had a date set and it had to be foggy just then.
Pretty stupid and this Autobild guy WAS trying to fool the SternTV team.
Groucho @ Feb 24th 2006 7:42AM
Only one thing more impressive than a sidewalk engineer of Distronic, A real owner of the package!!
Does anyone have information on setting up the incar telephone on a 2007 S-Class? Where do you find a cradle? Is it needed? Will the car bluetooth link to a bluetooth telephone without the cradle? Facts-no BS
Los Angeles San Diego Lexus Mercedes Benz Acura Orange County @ Aug 30th 2006 8:29PM
This is a great new feature on the mercedes benz, not that you should be taking you eyes off the road. I'm sure lexus and acura will be quick to follow suit. Perhaps bmw will be upgrading theirs as well.