“So if autonomous driving CLA Next year it will be the most advanced system we have ever built. “Every new generation of Mercedes is the safest model we have ever produced because technology never stops.”

This will be beyond the systems we tested today. No wonder the company predicts it will halve the number of people killed and seriously injured in crashes involving Mercedes this decade. And this would be a welcome addition to the quest to reduce life-altering accidents worldwide.

Guided tour of Mercedes’ incredible Immendingen proving ground

Where can you drive ramps so steep that the asphalt pavement slides, mountainous spines climbing to 180 metres, then the highway stretching from France to China? It opened at Mercedes’ Immendingen proving ground in 2018.

Mercedes has converted a former military area, just over an hour’s drive south of Stuttgart, into a 520-hectare base for car testing. Off-road driving, a high-speed dish, hot and cold air chambers, and wet and dry handling circuits are among the facility’s extensive testing facilities. Road signs, signs and conditions simulate roads around the world.

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

To utilize its vehicles on city streets, Mercedes built a city center complete with a 500-car parking garage. All are watched over by sheep to mow the grass, llamas to protect them from foxes, nesting areas for larks, and wildlife corridors to allow animals (including wandering lynx) to pass safely. The ultimate, environmentally friendly playground that will shape the Mercedes of the future.

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