Mercedes-Benz withdraws ‘Self Driving Car’ ad campaign as it was alleged to mislead the luxury sedan as an autonomous driving vehicle
Mercedes-Benz’s Drive Pilot system, just like the Autopilot function of Tesla, is a driver-assist semi-autonomous feature. Much as the automatic steering and active cruise control on highways but the performance is in contrast to each other. In a recently conducted comparison test between both systems by a media publication, Tesla’s Autopilot emerged as the winner.
The road tester remarked the Drive Pilot on Mercedes is dangerous and was perplexed of how it was approved by safety commissions. He said Tesla’s Autopilot is safer than a human driver. Mercedes’ E-Class advertisement leads a customer into thinking that the German car maker’s Drive Pilot is a ‘Self Driving’ system which essentially means the vehicle is acting on its own with no input from the driver onboard but it is not the actual fact.
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Consumer Reports wanted Tesla to stop calling its system as ‘Autopilot’ but it was denied last month. The Mercedes ad campaign shows drivers without having placed their hands on the steering wheel which prompted Consumer Reports last Wednesday to send letter to Federal Trade Commission to investigate on the commercials. Due to the stated reason by Consumer Reports, Mercedes has pulled “The Future” ad campaign.
In defense, the company has said the new 2017 E Class is a pivotal leap towards achieving its goal of no-accident future and doesn’t want any bewilderness in the marketplace. The withdrawal was mainly because buyers could get perplexed by the autonomous driving capability of the F015 concept car with driver assistance systems of the new E class model.
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This probe was instigated mainly by the fatal crash in a Tesla that operated on Autopilot mode as consumer groups warned customers to not solely depend on the cruise control systems which are controlled electronically to auto brake and steer. The ongoing investigation by US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration led to double-checking of the autonomous technology based ad campaigns.