New Mercedes-Benz E-Class Australia's most intelligent car

Fully autonomous driving will move a step closer to reality when the new Mercedes-Benz E-class launches in Australia next week.

Claimed to be the most intelligent car on sale in Australia, the new-generation E-Class takes on board a range of autonomous driving technologies that outstrip anything else available on the market today.

New levels of capability enable it to park itself, steer itself and navigate itself in some situations, while constantly sensing its surrounding environment so it can avoid a potential collision.

The system, Driver Assistant Package Plus, is standard on all new E-Class models and includes wide and narrow angle multi-mode radar, long-range radar, a stereo multi-purpose camera and ultrasonic sensors to detect stationary and moving objects such as other vehicles or pedestrians as close as 1.5 metres and as far away as 250 metres, and within a 40-metre radius.

On top of now-familiar systems such as lane-keeping assistance, blind spot detection and hands-free-parking, this brings unprecedented levels of autonomy that help the driver in the struggle to keep aware of complex, ever-changing road situations.

The new Drive Pilot partially-automated system, for instance, can steer, brake and accelerate the car between speeds of zero and 210km/h.

The technology that enables this is stupendous in its scope: Mercedes-Benz says the new E-Class has more lines of code than an Airbus A380 airliner.

Of course, Mercedes-Benz stops short of claiming the new E-Class is autonomous to the extent that it removes all responsibility from the driver.

It might arguably be the safest car on the market, but that doesn't mean the E-Class is completely invulnerable, says Jochen Haab, head of active safety, validation and testing, Mercedes Benz R&D.

"There will be inevitable accidents, yes," he says of autonomous and partially-automated cars, but argues that the technology will save lives and will significantly improve overall safety for all road users.

Haab, who was explaining the new technology to government and media representatives in Australia this week, says in another four or five years the company will deploy the next stage of automated vehicle systems, but said fully autonomous cars were still some way off and would only work effectively with lots of other cars on the road.

"In this situation for a highly automated car that we would sell some years down the road, we will also rely on surrounding vehicles and use them as a safety buffer zone.

"Typically people do the right things, and we use them as an extra sensor, if you like," he said.

"When we take that step across the threshold from partially to highly automated functions … circumstances that we're looking at for that first step will be separated highway – a true motorway with true separation, not just a line or grass – so no crossing traffic, no intersections or bicyclists or pedestrians or anything of that sort."

It's Haab's belief that 100 per cent autonomous cars are a long way off.

The new Mercedes-Benz E-Class launches in Australia in three flavours initially; the E 200, E 220 d and E 350 d. Prices are listed below, and the different designations correspond to 2.0-litre turbo-petrol, turbo-diesel, and 3.0-litre turbo-diesel engines respectively.

Check out more details on Mercedes-Benz E-Class and their engines.

Although prices have risen by around $10,000, all Aussie-delivered cars are available in 11 exterior colours with 12 different leather trims, and standard equipment includes the aforementioned Driver Assistant Package Plus, a huge widescreen cockpit display and advanced headlights comprising 84 LEDs per headlamp that adjust automatically for city, country, rain, fog and even when cornering.

More models will join the E-Class line-up over the next six months; the E 400 in November, the E 350 e plug-in hybrid in December and the E 43 AMG in January.

The only V8 option will be the stump-pulling 4.0-litre twin-turbo Mercedes-AMG E 63, expected to arrive later in 2017.

Mercedes-Benz Australia's Senior Manager of Public Relations, Product and Corporate Communications, David McCarthy, told motoring.com.au the E-Class was the most intelligent car in Australia.

"I think it is, yes. It has a reason for being, there's nothing on this car that doesn't serve a purpose. Others are into gimmicks, we're into outcomes.

Emission-free driving, accident-free driving: That's not a slogan, that's a goal.

"It's an intelligent car for intelligent people."

Mercedes-Benz E-Class pricing:
E 200 – $89,990
E 220 d – $92,900
E 350 d – $134,900