Self Driving

Daimler, the maker of Mercedes-Benz and Smart cars, has announced that it will start selling a self-driving car by 2020.

It is thought the car will be able to drive on its own in most situations but will still hand control back to the driver during difficult situations such as dealing with traffic lights.

The move could help Daimler regain its position as the leading luxury car market from its rival BMW.

It is thought the car, which will be able to drive on its own in most situations, will still hand control back to the driver during difficult situations such as dealing with traffic lights.

‘We want to be the first to launch autonomous functions in production vehicles. You can be sure: we will accomplish that in this decade,’ said Daimler head of development Thomas Weber.

The technology featured at this week's Frankfurt car show but won’t come to market for another 10 years.

The German car maker has been working on improving its driverless technology over the past few years and recently became the world’s first car manufacturer to demonstrate autonomous driving in rural and urban traffic.

Last month, a Mercedes Benz S 500 Intelligent Drive research vehicle, drove autonomously through a 100-kilometre-long route from Mannheim to Pforzheim in Germany. 

Last month, a Mercedes Benz S 500 Intelligent Drive research vehicle drove autonomously through a 100-kilometre-long route from Mannheim to Pforzheim in Germany.

The driverless S-Class was able to deal with some difficult situations involving traffic lights, roundabouts, pedestrians, cyclists and trams.

A particular challenge for autonomous vehicles is the way in which they communicate and interact with other cars. 

Coming to an agreement with an oncoming vehicle on who should proceed first around an obstruction is something that requires a very great deal of situational analysis.

“Where a human driver might boldly move forward into a gap, our autonomous vehicle tends to adopt a more cautious approach,” said  Prof Ralf Herrtwich, head of driver assistance and suspension systems at Daimler.