The all-electric Mercedes-Benz EQS will be able to dodge that scourge of the poorly maintained road, the pothole, according the German luxury carmaker.
The new Car-to-X operating system with pothole and speed hump detection and avoidance comes as standard with the EQS electric sedan, as well as Mercedes S-Class and C-Class vehicles.
And not a moment too soon: in a recent “Rate Your Road” report released by the NRMA, the poor conditions of roads in many budget-constrained councils costs thousands per capita in trauma each year, not to mention damage to suspension and tyres.
While it’s a shame pothole dodging (and adequately funded councils for that matter) is a feature that for now will be available with only a limited number of premium models, the data generated by these vehicles will benefit 3 million Mercedes-Benz vehicles built since 2016.
It works like this: the EQS or other Car-to-X-enabled vehicles detect a pothole, then the position and location are uploaded in real-time to the Mercedes-Benz Cloud.
The pothole or speed bump is detected when a threshold in sudden compression and rebound of the suspension is reached on the front and rear, with the appropriate time delay between the two.
Then, the data is distributed to other data-capable Mercs in the vicinity which will be able to issue an audible warning “Traffic event ahead” plus a visual warning to their drivers. In other words, one car has to hit a pothole for the others to receive a warning. Taking it for the team.
The EQS and other Car-to-X-enabled vehicles will be able to take evasive action or reduce speed to reduce the risk to tyres and suspension.
It will also warn drivers by issuing a voice warning “Look out pothole!” I can’t tell you the number of times I wished I had that feature in the Northern Rivers region of NSW.
Mercedes-Benz says there will be a number of other road event detection abilities with Car-to-X, from risk of skidding on ice and crosswinds (recognised by electronic stability systems) to heavy rain (recognised by window wipers on full) to fog (fog lights are on).
Other hazards such as accident sites and broken down vehicles can be recorded via the car’s infotainment system.
To use Car-to-X services, drivers must register for a “Mercedes Me” account and activate the service.
Bridie Schmidt is associate editor for The Driven, sister site of Renew Economy. She has been writing about electric vehicles since 2018, and has a keen interest in the role that zero-emissions transport has to play in sustainability. She has participated in podcasts such as Download This Show with Marc Fennell and Shirtloads of Science with Karl Kruszelnicki and is co-organiser of the Northern Rivers Electric Vehicle Forum. Bridie also owns a Tesla Model Y and has it available for hire on evee.com.au.