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Mercedes has been pressured into withdrawing a YouTube advert for the new E-Class which apparently made exaggerated claims that the car has significant autonomous driving abilities. The narration for the advert includes the phrase "is the world truly ready for a vehicle that can drive itself? Ready or not, the future is here" and footage shows a driver taking their hands off the wheel for an extended time, which is not how you're supposed to drive the car when it's in autonomous mode.
Mercedes claimed that on-screen text clarified that the car was not fully self-driving but consumer watchdogs hit back, saying that such text is only allowed for minor clarifications, not major revisions of what's happening on screen.
A letter, sent to the Federal Trade Commission and signed by, among others, the influential reviews magazine Consumer Reports, said that the advert showed the car being "marketed in a way that a reasonable consumer would believe it does [drive itself], which in turn could give people a false sense of security in the ability of the car to operate autonomously."
Mercedes was later forced to withdraw the advert, with Mercedes US spokesperson Donna Boland saying "the new 2017 E-Class is a technological tour de force and is a significant step towards achieving our vision of an accident-free future. We do not want any potential confusion in the marketplace to detract from the giant step forward in vehicle safety the 2017 E-Class represents."
The incident doesn't seem to have stalled Merc's appetite for either self-driving cars nor the services which might support the use of such cars. Mercedes (through its parent company Daimler-Benz) has bought a controlling stake in the app-based taxi hailing company Hailo. Hailo will be well known to Irish customers already, and it has in the region of 10,000 taxi drivers already signed up to the service. Hailo's unusual in that, unlike its major rival Uber, it works with existing taxi operators, rather than trying to replace them. Hailo has had a bad time of it lately, though - a disastrous foray into the New York taxi and ride-sharing market lost it millions, and so now Daimler has stepped in. Hailo will be combined with Daimler's existing on-demand and ride-sharing brand, MyTaxi and the two companies will rebrand as MyTaxi.
Meanwhile, Mercedes will double-down on future electric and autonomous vehicles with a dramatic increase in R&D investment in these areas, which CEO Dieter Zetsche has confirmed will be more than the €6.6-billion spent in 2015.
First up will be a new range of electric cars, starting with a mid-size saloon (smaller than the E-Class but bigger than the C-Class) which we should see some sign of at the upcoming Paris motor show. Another saloon (larger) and tow SUVs will follow and Mercedes has apparently registered the EQ brand name for these Tesla and BMW i-car rivals.