“Maybe they don’t come out of the steering wheel – maybe we combine it into the seatbelt or the B-pillar. Or the seats themselves. That’s a new thing – to combine this with assisted driving,” said Dick.
The problem also extends beyond airbags. Mercedes models are also equipped with Pre-Safe, which sets everything up for maximum protection when an accident is unavoidable. An example is seatbelt pretensioners, which grab hold of the driver and passengers in a normal seating position. It’s a brilliant idea for a normal seating position, but it may cause additional harm if the passenger is having a snooze in the front seat.
These are all things Mercedes needs to consider if it wants to move up to Level 4, where the driver doesn’t need to pay attention but can still take control when the mood strikes.
We’ll be keeping a close eye on patent filings because if Mercedes is already thinking about it, the applications will start flowing out of Stuttgart.
