Night vision - Mercedes
This safety aid is claimed to help you see better at nightfall, but is it a gimmick too far?
Of all the gadgets tested here, night vision sounds the most futuristic. However, Mercedes first introduced Night View Assist in the S-Class in 2005, and now Night View Assist Plus is debuting on the E-Class.
This enhanced system, designed to highlight pedestrians, has been developed by industry giant Bosch. So, can a car really see better at night than the human eye – and how does it work?
The system is a £1,150 option on the E350 CDI we tested, and the technology is complicated. In essence, two high-powered infrared lamps, with beams invisible to the human eye, are aimed at the road. The images they pick up are recorded by a camera installed behind the windscreen. These are displayed on a high-resolution sat-nav screen.
Picture quality is incredible – but the system itself is less convincing. Driving along while looking at the dash is disconcerting for a start. It feels as if you’re playing a computer game and, with little peripheral vision and barely any sense of speed, few sensible motorists would drive using the screen alone.
If you are merely glancing at it occasionally, then the system’s effectiveness is limited. The manufacturer claims that the infrared lights have a range three times longer than that of standard low-beam headlights. Yet in our static tests on a pitch-dark country lane, we couldn’t see anything on the screen that wasn’t clearly visible to the human eye through the glass.
In fact, despite the quality of the image, in most situations it didn’t reveal any more detail than the headlights, and it has a narrower field of vision. Also, when we switched from full to dipped beam, the display image degraded in corresponding degrees.
We did find one benefit, though. The system is effective if you are dazzled by oncoming headlights, as the infrared image is unaffected by the approaching vehicle.
Where the new Plus system differs from its predecessor is in its technology. The latest version has the capability to analyse the image recorded rather than simply display it.
As a result, pedestrians are identified and highlighted on the screen. This is achieved thanks to a separate control unit which studies the image pixel-by-pixel to distinguish objects with human characteristics. And as these are highlighted on the in-car display, Bosch claims the driver can react earlier.
But it still can’t solve the biggest issue, because staring at the screen is both unnatural and unnerving.
Our tests also left us unconvinced whether the camera picks up objects much sooner than the very effective adaptive xenon headlamps fitted to Avantgarde models. And before you get any Knight Rider-style fantasies about driving along at night with no lights to impress your friends, the technology doesn’t work unless the headlamps are switched on. Clever though this system undoubtedly is, we think night vision needs more work before it becomes a genuinely useful piece of automotive technology.
VERDICT: Night Vision
* Technology: Night View Assist Plus
* Car tested: Mercedes E350 CDI Avantgarde, £34,430
* Also available on: S-Class
* Price on tested car: £1,150 plus COMAND interface (£2,128)
* Other manufacturers with similar technology: BMW, Lexus
* Hit or miss? MISS
Details
WHY: The latest version of the German marque’s clever Night View Assist is the best yet – but can it beat the naked eye?
