Early next year, the all-new Mercedes E-Class is coming out and the Stuttgart company will, as ever, filter the hugely advanced tech of the S-Class into its mid-sized exec machine. CompleteCar.ie was invited to the company's Sindelfingen R&D centre in early July to get a sneak peek at some of these toys.
Mercedes says it's like upgrading the E-Class' technology from 'business to first class', with the W213 model building on some of the S-Class gadgetry. Perhaps the two best gadgets are the Remote Parking Pilot and a smartphone 'digital car key'.
The first is a system to rival that seen on the forthcoming BMW 7 Series, allowing the parking of the E-Class in tight, perpendicular spaces (i.e., in a multi-storey car park or a cluttered home garage) with the driver standing out of the car. RPP requires an app to work but once installed, the driver can exit the vehicle and use very simple circular swipe motions on their smartphone to manoeuvre the E-Class into bays. The second the operator stops swiping the phone, the car comes to an immediate halt.
The E-Class can drive straight forwards and backwards in this mode, but can also steer itself into/out of a bay using a 360-degree camera and radar. Entering a space requires the driver to press the park assist button in the car prior to the E-Class scanning for suitable locations, but once the car has found a space, the drive can get out at any point during the manoeuvre. Exiting a space, the smartphone app has the power to unlock and start the car remotely, before edging it out of the space. All manoeuvres are conducted at a maximum 2km/h and the driver has to be within three metres of the vehicle at all times, to ensure manoeuvring is safe.
The digital car key allows for pairing of a smartphone via Mercedes Me connectivity package. A secure code for the car is sent to the phone's SIM card and then, using near field communication (NFC), the phone can be held near the car doors to unlock it, before driving off. No physical key is needed. In case of phone theft or total battery depletion, there are some safety overrides - you can deactivate the smartphone as a car key immediately via the Mercedes Me programme on a linked computer, while NFC allows wireless charging so the car can put some juice back into a defunct smartphone.
Elsewhere, the LED Multibeam headlights have been increased to a dazzling 84 LEDs for the new E-Class, allowing for even better main beam coverage without glaring in the face of other road users, while Car-to-X communication could see the E-Class pick up data on hidden dangers ahead from other vehicles with the technology broadcasting warnings to the cloud. So that accident around some sharp bends won't come as a huge surprise (once more cars are using the tech, of course...) any more.
Intelligent Drive also is improved from the S-Class offering, with a semi-autonomous cruise control that actually offers mild steering assistance to keep in lane as well as radar velocity monitoring. Also, Evasive Steering Assist is a new feature - spot an unwary pedestrian in the danger zone directly in front of the car and when you input some steering torque to start the evasive manoeuvre, the E-Class helps by adding torque for the first swerve, then offering up counter-steering to stop the car veering off the opposite side of the road. It's all very clever stuff.
Anything else?
The fifth-generation E-Class (no, we're not counting back beyond the W124 to the W120) will get its debut at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit in early 2016. It's clear the new E will be a hugely advanced machine in many ways, so the key thing now is how it will look and what engines will power it. As soon as we know more, we'll bring you full details.