How Mercedes-Benz is making cars safer

The Experimental Safety Vehicle (ESF) 2019 –Cooperative communication with the environment: The ESF 2019 uses light signals to warn others of dangers it has detected. This helps to create “informed trust” between an automated vehicle and its surroundings. The ESF 2019 on the press pictures differs from series production specifications. The photos show picture compositions and portray Mercedes’ vision of the future based on current development projects.

WITH its new Experimental Safety Vehicle ESF 2019, Mercedes-Benz is giving an insight into concepts it is researching and working on. Some of these are near-series developments, some look into the future.

The ESF 2019 is based on the new Mercedes-Benz GLE. It is capable of automated driving in many situations and has a plug-in hybrid drive system. In June the car will appear before experts at the ESV convention in Netherlands, then will make its public debut at the Frankfurt motor show in September.

Some of the features proposed by the ESF 2019 are:

All-round driver safety

When the ESF 2019 is driving in automated mode, the steering wheel and pedal cluster are retracted to reduce the risk of injury during a crash. This requires new ideas for restraint systems (seat-integrated belt) and airbags with alternative installation spaces (driver airbag in the dashboard, integral side bag in the side bolsters of the seat backrests).

The Experimental Safety Vehicle (ESF) 2019 presents more than one dozen groundbreaking innovations in the field of safety.

Cooperative communication with the environment

People must immediately and intuitively be able to recognize what an automated car intends to do. So the ESF 2019 has sensors which not only keep an eye on the traffic, but also communicate in all directions and can also warn other road users. The ESF 2019 is also equipped with dazzle-free headlights with HD-quality high beams and a resolution of more than two million pixels.

Child safety

With the Pre-Safe child seat concept, the seat belt is preventively tensioned and its side-mounted impact protection elements are extended before a crash. This means the child is more firmly fixed in the seat while belt slack is reduced.

Securing traffic hazards

The ESF 2019 shows how the scenes of accidents or breakdowns could be secured more safely with innovations such as a small robot that automatically emerges from the vehicle’s rear following an incident, positioning itself at the roadside as a warning triangle. Other ideas are a warning triangle that folds out of the vehicle’s roof and the rear window.

The Experimental Safety Vehicle (ESF) 2019 presents more than one dozen groundbreaking innovations in the field of safety. A warning triangle robot is carried at the rear of the vehicle. It leaves the vehicle and automatically puts out an illuminated warning triangle even if the automated vehicle is on the road without a driver. The ESF 2019 on the press pictures differs from series production specifications. The photos show picture compositions and portray our vision of the future based on current development projects.

New Pre-Safe functions

Pre-Safe Curve uses the belt tensioner to warn the driver that he or she has possibly underestimated an approaching bend. Pre-Safe side lights with electro-luminescent paint defuse potentially hazardous situations. Pre-Safe Impulse Rear extends the protection of passengers and others involved in an accident at the end of a traffic tailback.

Safety and comfort in the rear

A rear airbag uses a new inflation concept to deploy and position the airbag. It has a special tubular structure, belt-feeders, belt buckle illumination, USB belt buckles and belt heating. The ESF 2019 encourages rear passengers to wear seat belts using new methods.

Active safety

Active Brake Assist with extended functions in the ESF 2019 provides additional protection. It now also detects pedestrians and cyclists moving in parallel to the original direction of travel. If a collision with unprotected road users crossing the road into which the vehicle is turning is imminent, the driver receives a visual and audible warning. Autonomous braking is initiated if the driver fails to react.