Mercedes to take EV 'risks'

Mercedes-Benz will have to take risks in developing new-tech vehicles faster, but there will be no Tesla-style on-road beta testing of new componentry.

That was the message from Axel Harries, the boss of Benz’s newly-formed megatrends unit CASE, which is focused on developing Connectivity, Autonomy, Sharing and Services and Electric vehicles.

Harries is convinced timelines to production for the new Mercedes-Benz EQ EV line must be shorter and that Benz, traditionally conservative with its engineering cycles and testing, needs to move faster.

“As a manufacturer we were used to product life cycles -- engineering cycles -- of five, six, seven years sometimes.

“If it is fact — and I believe it is — that cars will become computers on wheels we have to change.

“We have to dramatically change, we have to become faster, we have to take … maybe more risks.”

When asked to clarify what he meant by “risks”, Harries made it clear he wasn’t talking about on-road beta testing.

Controversy erupted in 2016 because of the death of a Tesla Model S driver in a Florida road accident, after which it was revealed he was relying on a beta (test) version of the car’s Autopilot semi-autonomous mode.

“Of course we are not going to do any beta versions in our vehicles, that will never happen in a Mercedes,” said Harries.

“However, we have to understand for example that flashing over the air becomes a reality also for Mercedes products pretty soon.

“This is a major change to how we secure vehicles today compared to what we do in the future.

“We have got to be faster.

“And that also sometimes means risk taking. Do more in a shorter amount of time; do we hurt the customer with that? Absolutely not.

“However, we have to change some of our processes.”

CASE is clearly set up to be nimbler than the Mercedes-Benz research and design mothership.

Harries said that would enable it to establish relations more quickly with suppliers and partners dealing in megatrends.

“I think that is also for Mercedes an important thing to understand, that we have to open up to this ecosystem.

“But this is not something a weak sign, this is something that makes us together stronger.

“We can bring a lot of good things to the party, however in some areas we need the support and partners and co-operation and there we need to increase our activities.”

Harries plan for shorter vehicle design and production timelines drew support Benz’s design chief Gordon Wagener.

“I am always a big supporter of those development time reductions. Why? Because once the baby is born it gets older, simple as that.

“So the closer I am to the market then the fresher the design will be when it gets to market.

“The longer the engineers need to do that the older it will get.”