Mercedes S-Class on test

Disguised Mercedes S-Class has been spied towing, as engineers test new 6D-Vision braking technology

Auto Express Car Reviews

07th October 2011

Mercedes is developing new technology that can spot a hazard quicker than the human eye.

The 6D-Vision system will debut on the S-Class in 2013, and our spies caught a prototype testing it while towing. It can calculate the precise location of a hazard in three dimensions, and the direction and speed of travel in a further three.

It’s designed to spot pedestrians and cyclists appearing from behind parked cars. The average human will take 500 milliseconds to process that information and instigate emergency braking. But 6D-Vision can do it in 200ms.

It works via two cameras located at the top of the windscreen behind the mirror, which scan the road ahead for up to 50 metres. “On test, we avoided 15 per cent of all accidents in the urban area,” said researcher Dr Uwe Franke.

After debuting on the S-Class, the innovation will be available for other makers. Mercedes did the same with ESP and the airbag, which it also invented.

For an alternative review of the latest Mercedes-Benz S-Class visit our sister site carbuyer.co.uk