All Mercedes-Benz buyers to get anti-sleep device
Author: Chris Barker
Published: 14 August 2008
You can never accuse Mercedes-Benz of not looking after its C-Class and S-Class saloon, CLK Coupe, E-Class estate, SLK roadster and M-Class 4X4 drivers, well, not from early next year anyway.Customer service aside, the German posh car manufacturer is stopping short of filling all of its car’s interiors with cotton wool and constructing exteriors from bubble-wrap, and instead fitting its potential life and lane-changing Attention Assist assemblage into these and every other cars across its range.Following on from similar systems increasingly seen equipped to BMW, Volkswagen and Volvo models, the new Mercedes-Benz Attention Assist system is the latest piece of kit to enter the market on the back of a global car manufacturer keen to highlight its safety credentials.As a preventative measure to ensure that drivers don’t nod off behind the wheel of their prestige motors, Mercedes’ Attention Assist device continually monitors and assesses what its hitherto compiled as the driver’s core behavioral patterns, by taking into account the key elements of speed, acceleration and steering.The millisecond the Mercedes’ brain senses that the vehicle has strayed off the beaten track, the hapless driver is alerted to their temporary loss of judgment by way of a frenzied dashboard message and deployment of a verbal signal.Previously, the Attention Assist has attentively followed the driving patterns that it believes to typically characterize the vehicle’s driver, and stored its minute findings on its onboard data bank.Just about every driver and road condition nuance is validated at the time, which ultimately helps the intelligent system build up the definitive picture of the driver, and recorded for future reference. This could be anything from driver and car reaction to traffic conditions, uneven surfaces and side winds that can infiltrate and colour modern day driving practices.
The system utilizes a variety of sensors that measure steering wheel movements, vehicle speed, lateral and linear acceleration, indicator and pedal operations and the number of specific control operations. The monitoring of steering input is key to the system's effectiveness due to the swerving tendency sleepy driver’s naturally exhibit.This perpetual acknowledgement therefore leaves the Attention Assist system well qualified to determine if and when the driver’s actions and reactions thereafter show signs of change, however fleeting, which instigates the juncture in which it comes into its own.Falling asleep at the wheel remains a constant threat to driver and other road user’s safety, and is addressed by many of the leading automotive manufacturers in different ways in a bid to eliminate a factor that’s constantly cited in a percentage of road traffic accidents year in, year out.
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