[RahulNagaraj]

Mercedes-Benz introduced its 'Car-to-X' technology back in 2016 on the E-Class model. Now, the company has rolled out the technology on the new C-Class, S-Class and EQS models, while also introducing a new feature capable of detecting potholes and speed bumps.



As per Mercedes, the Car-to-X technology is activated when the chassis control unit of a car detects a pothole or speed bump. The information is then sent in real-time to the Mercedes-Benz cloud via a mobile phone network. The technology then informs all other Mercedes-Benz passenger vehicles in the vicinity by displaying it on the navigational map via icons. Also, 10 seconds before the pothole, the car will provide an audible warning, while also visually highlighting the icon on the map.

The new C-Class, S-Class & EQS models will get an audible message saying 'Lookout, pothole' or 'Attention, speed bump'. Mercedes states that cars will need to have a 'Mercedes-Me' account, along with the activation and online availability of the Car-to-X communication.

The German luxury car brand has already rolled out the new alert system across select markets worldwide. The audible warnings are available in 36 different languages, recognised by the infotainment system.

The Car-to-X technology is said to have been developed and tested in-house by Mercedes-Benz. The company will be offering the new safety alert system free of cost across its models for the first three years, with the option of renewing it for a fixed fee thereafter.

Link to Team-BHP news

[Turbanator]

Can use only two smileys, hope MB doesn’t bother activating this feature for us. Else, it will be one more step before starting on a trip.

Currently I have to press start/ stop auto off, long press Off to deactivate lane assist and than switch off the emergency brake system via mbux.

Hope it works well in intended markets.

[govindremesh]

Mods should relax the emoji count restriction for this thread. If this thing makes to Mercs in India, then drivers of those cars will have a live commentary in the background

Further, Merc's cloud servers will run out of processing capacity and they'll have an additional problem of running out of storage.

Jokes apart, this is a nice feature for the western world. Sharing data with civic authorities via IT integrations will also help in fixing the roads as soon as deformities are spotted.

[saikarthik]

I can understand the fun part, but if the feature is tuned to detect only major vehicle damage or fatal incident inducing pot holes, then I think still it's a good addition even in Indian market.

[callmeneo]

So one more annoying alert in addition to the 80/120 annoying alerts. Good news that you can turn this off. I suppose someone had some free time on their hand and ran this pet project. But as @govindremesh mentioned , the data can also be used to repair the roads etc.

[motonomad]

Tesla and few others have also been using onboard sensors to map road conditions already. Of course safety is one part of it, the other is to have more detailed road information available for when they move forward with higher degrees of autonomy because for that, existing maps just aren't good enough.

However, for dedicated hardware tech like this or something like Streeteye that Acko has been pushing, scale is the primary challenge.

We have been doing something similar for a while (TBHP thread here (Intents Go navigation app provides pothole, speed bump alerts)) using smartphones and our system updates over 50,000 potholes daily (new ones found and old ones fixed) also covering some of the most remote areas. (mods please remove if this would be considered self promotion)

Also as @govindremesh and @callmeneo rightly pointed out, road repair and maintenance is one of the most important immediate use cases, but just like with any new solution, it is also one with some degree of resistance for now.

[GTO]

It has a benefit to Mercedes as well = a superior reputation for durability. High-end luxury cars are usually fragile and can easily get damaged if a big pothole or unmarked speed breaker is taken at speed (suspension, underbody, tyre, rim). By warning drivers in advance, they are helping not just the car owner, but also enhancing their own reputation for uptime.

I personally would love such a feature as whenever I'm driving a low-slung German car on the highway, the concentration level has to be 100%. Hitting a big speed bump at speed isn't an option. You could get away with it in a Fortuner or even a Honda City, but not an E-Class.

Would love to see this extend to flood / waterlogged roads as well .

[Axe77]

Is there any toggle style option on this feature for India? Where the function flips so that it only announces to the passenger whenever there is a driveable patch of road? Otherwise we'll be hearing the 120 kmph continuous beep at all speeds.

Drove to Panchgani over the weekend. Post exiting the expressway, for a large part of the divided highway up to Wai turnoff, it was like driving in a video game, avoiding broken road sections and potholes coming regularly in the middle of an otherwise decent tarmac road.
Attention level required with my 3 GT: 110%.
The XUV review going live the day I returned didn't help. So much more peace of mind in such cheaper sturdier cars, knowing missing one odd bump won't have as disastrous a consequence.

[Raghu M]

Trying to implement their technology in India would result in unending disappointment. I think any European or American brand should try these techs first in India, the rest of the world will never get to see them! If that were the case, the world wouldn't have Tesla cars!

[speedmiester]

It's a very good feature. May not be useful in the cities, but on the highways it will be very useful.
Car hitting the pothole at good speeds can cause damage to the tyres/wheels and more. Good to have this feature on the highways where an odd pothole can cause serious issues.

[@og_adi]

A kilometers ride on a road like this will lead to the malfunction of the whole system.

[Torque250]

To make this technology relevant to India, Mercedes needs to tweak it for two scenarios along with a rotary knob.

Highway mode: pothole ahead
City mode: Good stretch of road lies ahead

[NDK286]

I never understood why Google doesnt do this. Google Maps is widely used, and it might be a simple matter of logging the accelerometer data from phones who have navigation active to detect significant vertical movement. With enough data points, they could identify that it is a pothole/speedbump at that location.

[51morris]

Originally Posted by NDK286

I never understood why Google doesnt do this. Google Maps is widely used, and it might be a simple matter of logging the accelerometer data from phones who have navigation active to detect significant vertical movement. With enough data points, they could identify that it is a pothole/speedbump at that location.

I use Waze regularly and it has the option of flagging a pothole or even random objects on the road. Other drivers are then alerted of the same. I've been alerted many times of potholes reported by other Wazers.

Of course, all of this is manual but still helps.

[Vasuki]

Originally Posted by Turbanator

Currently I have to press start/ stop auto off, long press Off to deactivate lane assist and than switch off the emergency brake system via mbux.

Hope it works well in intended markets.

Why switch off the emergency brakes system?

Is this very intrusive? I'm asking this because, this system(I may be wrong here, pls correct me if so) is about to be launched in XUV700 and we can expect to see such variants more in the market from now on.

So having such a system, is it a folly under Indian conditions?