Advanced safety technology from Mercedes has 25 years to end all road accidents

“So if we launch automated driving in the CLA coming next year, it will be the most advanced system we’ve ever created. Each new generation of Mercedes is the safest we have ever made, because the technology never stops.”

That’s in addition to the systems we tested today. No wonder the company predicts it will halve the number of deaths and serious injuries in Mercedes accidents this decade. And that will be a welcome contribution to the quest to reduce life-changing accidents around the world.

A tour of Mercedes’ incredible Immendingen proving ground

Where can you drive up slopes so steep that the asphalt would slide off, mountainous hairpins that rise 600 feet, and then a highway that runs from France to China? At the Mercedes test site in Immendingen, opened in 2018.

Mercedes has converted a former military site just over an hour’s drive south of Stuttgart into a 520-hectare car testing base. Off-road driving, a high-speed bowl, hot and cold weather chambers and wet and dry circuits are among the site’s extensive testing facilities. And the road markings, signage and conditions simulate roads from all over the world.

Up to 400 prototypes can be tested at any time, all equipped with devices that transmit their location and speed via Mercedes’ private LTE network. There is a huge test platform for autonomous driving where engineers simulate traffic scenarios and even use mobile rain and snow machines to test sensors in harsh weather conditions. Test water is stored in tanks the size of 36,000 bathtubs.

Mercedes has built a city center, complete with a 500-car parking garage, to assess its vehicles on urban streets. All guarded by sheep to mow the grass, llamas to protect them from foxes, breeding areas for skylarks and game corridors so animals (including a roaming bobcat) can pass safely. It is the ultimate, eco-sensitive playground to shape the future Mercedes.

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