Self-driving taxis coming to Atlanta
According to Lyft, Lyft has partnered with May Mobility to bring a self-driving Toyota minivan to Atlanta with a fleet of self-driving autonomous driving.
Fox-5 Atlanta
Mercedes-Benz Chairman Ora Karenius calms down in the driver’s seat of the Mercedes-Benz EQS sedan and reaches for the center console. “Popcorn?” he asks as the opening credits for the original Ghostbusters film unfold in the heart of a high-resolution hyperscreen that stretches across the dash. There is a refreshing rat tat from the snare drum, and the bass begins as Rape Parker JR does rasps. If there’s something strange… to your neighborhood… who’ll call…
As the PR stunt progresses, it’s a bit…ahem…corny. But what’s not horny is that the Mercedes-Benz boss and I are in the movement to watch the movies, so EQS drives one mile at a time along the Autobahn at 59 mph.
Drive Pilot, the world’s first legally approved level 3 self-driving system, debuted in 2022. Its operating parameters were limited to traffic below 40 mph in Autobahn, Germany, and the operating parameters were tightly controlled. The Drive Pilot 95 allows Mercedes-Benz S-Class and EQS models equipped with the $6,600 option to drive self-driving indefinitely in the right lane of the Autoburn at speeds of up to 95 km/h (59 mph) under certain conditions. Car owners equipped with the original drive pilot system can upgrade and drive the Pilot 95 for free.
Mercedes-Benz plans to introduce drive pilots to the US. This is considered a major market for autonomous driving technology and is currently working on changing the operating parameters of the system to suit US roads and traffic conditions. First movers and fast movers like Tesla and Chinese automakers have grabbed headlines in terms of autonomous driving (although Tesla’s hyped, fully autonomous driving options aren’t a certified level 3 autonomous driving system) Mercedes-Benz is working quietly on the technology frontier.
Celenius argues that slow pace is intentional. “Mercedes-Benz’s philosophy is running a little less than what technology can do, but we continue to develop technology,” he says. In addition to working on the US-optimized version of the drive pilot, which allows for faster operating speeds than the drive pilot 95, engineers are planning to be able to offer full-level 3 autonomous driving capabilities at up to 80 mph in Germany by the end of the decade.
Ola Karenius leads the company that invented the automobile through one of the most challenging and transformative eras of the automobile era. Born in Westervik, Sweden in 1969, he served two years of mandatory military service, earning a degree in finance and accounting from the Faculty of Economics in Stockholm, and joined Daimler-Benz in 1993 as a management trainer at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland.
But he is not a dry, colourless bean counter. During his career, Kellenius worked with Ron Dennis at McLaren’s Futuristic HQ in the UK to oversee the production of the Mercedes SLR McLaren hypercar, earning Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains and Headed Amg from 2013 to 2013 to 2013. Italian Kimi Antoneri stepped into the seat of Mercedes F1 team Lewis Hamilton when the seven-time world champion next year went to Ferrari and spent his money on the Mercedes Amy SL 63.
OlaKällenius is well aware that developing cars that allow you to drive yourself challenges the best and brightest engineering brains at Mercedes-Benz. They have also been powering the product for over a century, and have been trying to move the three-point star away from the internal combustion engine towards the EVS. They are trying to figure out how to use fewer resources and throw carbon into the atmosphere throughout their lifetime cycles. And most importantly, they are trying to find a way to do it all while avoiding the threats from China’s more agile and less expensive automakers.
“The automotive industry is experiencing major changes,” agrees Celenius. Celenius says change is driven by a systematic shift towards decarbonization and neutrality. “We can debate how long it takes,” he says, “but the destination has zero emissions. It’s a huge industrial and infrastructure business, but I don’t think too many people are discussing the destination.”
If you doubt that statement, follow the money, Celenius insists. He says in a disruptive business environment, new venture capital is usually deployed to rule out incumbents, and it’s clear where the money is in the automotive industry. “Of billions of venture capitalists, none replicate the (internal combustion engine) business model that exists today,” he says bluntly.
And that’s why Mercedes-Benz continues to commit to EVs despite worrying signs that consumer demand has slowed down. “It’s better to attack than to defend,” says Celenius. He admits that sitting behind and waiting and watching will save capital, and implicitly acknowledges that Mercedes-Benz has not sold a lot so far and is spending it on developing EVs that have not produced any major profits. But the strategy would say the company risks missing a tipping point when power becomes the mainstream automotive powertrain.
Källenius agrees that the journey to that tipping point takes longer than everyone expected, but points out that it took a while for the iPhone to take off and crush the BlackBerry. “Now I know keenly that the industrial footprint of the automobile and automotive industry is not the same as the industrial footprint of the mobile phone industry,” he says. “But if there’s a turning point and you’re not there, it could be (existential threat) to the company.”
As mainstream carmakers began to embrace technology, Mercedes-Benz bullishly announced that the company would primarily build EVS by 2030. Ola Karenius tapped the brakes on that statement in an interview earlier this year. “But we have made capital allocation and engineering resources ready for the company for a complete EV lineup.”
However, in July, Källenius announced that Mercedes-Benz plans to spend around $15 billion on research and development, ensuring internal combustion engines tighten emissions regulations until the 2030s. “Overhauling the combustion portfolio has always been part of the plan,” he argues. “On the vehicle side, there’s the advantage of being in-service. The entire infrastructure is there, which means you can increase the flexibility of your product until the 2030s.
Källenius acknowledges that building internal combustion engine vehicles along with EVs until the 2030s means that Mercedes-Benz will become a much more complicated business than the switches promised to produce pure EVS. However, he says sticking to internal combustion engines will also contribute to a more healthy combustion business, and will ultimately help Mercedes-Benz make a profitable transition to EVS.
“We believe we can manage it through this extremely intense technology and product development cycle,” says Celenius. “Our balance sheet shows that there is liquidity and firepower to do this. We know what our destination is. Our destination is a zero-emission, intelligent digital vehicle. But if the tail of an internal combustion engine has a long tail (more than we expected), we will take advantage of it.”
This transition is ongoing, but should Mercedes-Benz, along with other Western automakers, protect against the wave of low-cost Chinese EVs entering the market? Absurd free trader, Källenius pushes back the idea that heavy tariffs on Chinese imports give Western automakers breathing space to compete for their businesses. “I understand political reasons and I think we should do anything within WTO rules to create a level playing field in major economic regions, but the escalation of a potential trade war based on tariffs is in the wrong direction,” he says. “But even if we could protect some players in the short term, that’s dangerous in the long run. The heat of competition has always been the best way to generate innovation.”
What about the problems with the Chinese market itself? There, did the intense competition between many domestic automakers combine with slower demand as the economy there cooled, affecting both sales and profitability? Källenius compares the current situation in the US and Europe, where hundreds of automakers existed at the beginning of the 20th century, but few people survived to see the 21st century. “I think China has a certain kind of integration,” he says. “It’s hard to say how long it will take, but it will maintain great competitive pressure and strength in the world’s biggest automotive market of foreseeable future.”
Photos by Motrend
