Dive Brief:
- Mercedes-Benz received approval from regulators in California and Nevada to use turquoise-colored exterior marker lights on vehicles equipped with its Drive Pilot SAE Level 3 automated driving feature, the company said Wednesday.
- The lights, which will be integrated into test vehicles, are designed to alert other road users that a vehicle is operating in autonomous mode.
- Mercedes-Benz aims to learn how other road users respond to autonomous vehicles in the real world.
Dive Insight:
The regulatory approvals in California and Nevada allow Mercedes-Benz to change the exterior marker light colors from red to turquoise when Drive Pilot is enabled on the test vehicles. In California, Mercedes-Benz will integrate the turquoise color into the front and rear lights, as well as the two rearview mirrors, of its test vehicles.
The exemption permit in California is initially limited to two years and allows Mercedes-Benz to use the special lights on freeways. The Nevada permit, meanwhile, only applies to model year 2026 Mercedes-Benz production vehicles. It will be valid until the Nevada legislature updates state law, the automaker said.
By making it clear when a vehicle is operating in autonomous mode, the automaker expects the special lighting to help improve road safety and public acceptance of autonomous driving technology.
The lights may also help law enforcement identify the system’s status and determine whether it’s okay for drivers to take their eyes off the road and use a handheld electronic device while behind the wheel.
Drive Pilot is the world’s first SAE Level 3 automated driving system. It takes over all driving tasks when certain conditions are met, allowing drivers to take their eyes off the road and read a book or watch a movie. Mercedes-Benz made the system available to customers in Germany in 2022 on some vehicles.
The turquoise color was chosen to make it stand out since it is not used in the U.S. for existing vehicle lighting, traffic lights or emergency vehicles.
The automaker says test studies, which included an evaluation of physiological and psychological factors, concluded that turquoise was the optimal color. In addition, SAE International’s best practices recommend using turquoise lighting for automated driving systems.
“The more automated driving vehicles populate the road, the more important communication and interaction between the vehicle and the environment become,” Markus Schäfer, a Mercedes-Benz board member and CTO of development and procurement, said in a statement.
The first model year 2024 EQS sedan and S-Class models equipped with Drive Pilot will be available in early 2024 to customers in California and Nevada, making the automaker the first to introduce an SAE Level 3 system for use on public roads in the U.S.
Earlier this week, Mercedes-Benz announced it would begin testing Drive Pilot on public highways in China after obtaining a license from regulators.
