"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enI'm here in the Mercedes S-Class the S550 the S-Class is Mercedes most technologically advanced car that they make um and this one sort of does something special it's sort of like a stepping stone on the way to self-driving cars hi this is glender electronics editor at consumer reports and today we are going to be doing a very special edition where where we're marrying talking Tech with talking cars I'm here in the Mercedes S-Class the S550 with the director of Auto testing Jake fiser who's right here beside me hello Jake he's he's going to be our chauffeur for the day what do you think of this car in terms of in terms of its technology so self-driving cars we've talked about self-driving cars before Google's working on something this is the closest car that we have seen uh in our stable that it gets close it's not there yet but it does a lot of those different pieces so specifically what does this car do that you that that you couldn't do before sure so what this car has is a pack is in a $2,800 package on top of the $100,000 car that we're driving right here which is this testronic plus with steering assist so um I'm actually engaging it right now and so wait wait wait so let's start with what does the distronic do before we get to the plus and steering assist because dronic has been around for a while right so okay well that's basically active uh cruise control so um a lot of cars actually have that and that's come down in uh just even mainstream Vehicles having that now which instead of saying okay I want to go 70 M an hour I'm going to go three car lengths behind the car that's in front of me and but no more than 70 mph and it's keeping you there automatically right it's keeping gas and the brakes that's exactly right okay so now how does it do let's get to the the technology behind that so it's if I understand it correctly it's radar it's sort of radar some of these systems use uh use laser is that correct there's right there's a variety of ways you could do it you could do with laser you could could do with cameras you could do it with radar whatever it is sensing the car that's in front of you and actually making sure that you're a certain set distance behind that car so now that's been around for years right yes so now this steering assist really sort of it's interesting that we're sort of layering systems on top of one another on the way towards autonomy right right so so so there's a couple pieces of it so there's one piece is is that one of the things that this this system does also it'll come to complete stop and continue going and not all systems do that often get around 20 M hour so they'll just beep at you and say you're on your own this car won't do that so even if your foot is on the gas well no so so let me actually sit I will set this right now and um we don't need to do that well actually right now I I have I have the system set so it's set for 40 mil per hour or don't hit the car in front of me so um as we're cruising along as we slow down the car will completely SL down if this car stops my foot's not on the brake right now all right so car got off off the and it's accelerating again so right now you're steering but the caring all the bring and is doing everything else and you can see we're coming to a red a red light here so I'm accelerating this car good thing we have our belts on right it's a little scary to get used to that's for sure and what it works better at is with you're following car so as that car slows down it'll come to a stop and um it's not not as scary in those so now where this is starting to evolve even further though is is in that it's going to take control of the steering system now just before we attempt that for our next trick let's get let's get into the concept of is this an electromechanical assist is this a steer by wire like how I mean for most of human Automotive relations there's been a direct linkage between the steering wheel and the uh and and the and the steering column and so on so what's it doing to overtake that sure so I mean there is still a direct this isn't steer by wire or anything like that um you're still uh connected what it's doing is just it's it's Servo or electrical motors that are actually adjusting the steering for you so it'll so I mean let's let's go ahead and try it so so right now I've set it to uh follow this car in front of me with these roughly painted lines that with these roughly painted lines and um and let's see so there's a little green uh steering wheel which tells you when it's engaged so my hands are off the wheel it's steering now this car in front of me it's stopping it's slowing down again my hands are off the wheel I'm not on the brake now I and I'm I'm I'm I'm hoping but there you go complete it should go to a complete stop now I want to say as somebody who inherently trusts technology this now we're going again this is still a little unnerving right it's extremely unnerving and this is not the way you're supposed to be using the system these s the system is designed to be a you know the the belts to your suspenders or whatever it is you know I mean it's not supposed to primarily drive the car and what you ALS what also just happened there and I'm accelerating as the car got out of the way but what also is happening is you're not supposed to take your hands off the wheel don't try this at home kids because when you take care home of the wheel it will alert you and tell you get your hands back on the wheel or we're going to just shut down I see so now so it's easy for a car company to sort of have it both ways right to say oh we're get we're delivering you this system but you're really not supposed to it's you know they're stepping towards autonomy but you're really not supposed to use it that way so how are consumer supposed to really take this is this a is this is seems like Mi mix messaging to me you have a you know don't worry we'll prevent you from steering off the road but if you steer off the road it's your fault because you took your hands off the wheel well I mean that's exactly what it is so uh you know I mean where it get really scary is if people start relying on these systems and you should not do that I mean and the scary part is it's like well I have all the systems here I could just go and compile my email or text or search Facebook because my car is going to take care of me it's not designed for that and they're not advertising it to do that what they're doing is not advertising it to do that but I but okay so we we're looking here at all these beautiful little screens and I'm hoping the cameras can catch this but there's all these wonderful little screens with tons of extra settings and there's so much invitation to just start tinkering with the other stuff and the other car like this can do I think there's a there's a rotating video screen of a vehicle here with all kinds of gorgeous Graphics I Can't Take My Eyes Off them I don't know yeah well I mean I mean that's exactly it so I mean you've gotten to the point where there are so many options on this I mean we go through here there's the vehicle settings in those vehicle settings I mean you could change the color of the ambient light in the vehicle you could I mean I have to pull over to really do this but they I mean it's unbelievable you could change the scent of this car you know what kind of air freshener are you interested in how much air freshener would you like how bright is the ambient look light colors it's it's mind-blowing so as you're doing this they're putting in these safety things to make sure that you don't Veer off the side of the road or crash and so what what happens when there's a conflict between what you actually do want to do uh let's say you do you do want to change lanes or you do or there is some good reason that you're pulling off the side of the road you could always override the systems and at one so at what point do you believe there is the Tipping Point where where the car manufacturers are going to say all right we're finally comfortable enough with the evolution of this technology that you should take your hands off the wheel and go ahead and do something else is there ever a sort of a point of both cultural acceptance of that and sort of technological Evolution where we can get to that point because there are some some potential benefits to that oh absolutely I mean it I mean there's no doubt that time will come um and it's not just about you know people expectations and their acceptance of it but it's also the laws um you know I mean the first time someone crashes into a self-driving vehicle um that who gets sued well right I mean that self-driving vehicle has to be a really really good witness and it may it may actually videotape everything that's going around it so the but I I want to get to some of the potential advantages though for instance one that I've that that I've been fascinated with is this idea that the evolution of this technology is occurring at just the same time that the the one of the largest Generations in American history is entering uh sort of is getting older and older and entering this period where maybe they shouldn't be driving a car and maybe it might be more dangerous to uh to allow people who are in their 70s and 80s perhaps to be to be behind the wheel well I mean the the end game of this and really when we get self-driving and and you're going to get to the point where there's no steering wheel in the car and at that point not only the older people blind people um all different types of people I mean will be able to be have the freedom of a vehicle and not even know how to drive and be able to do their work and but but but right now we're in this kind of interim point where it's kind of you know are you enabling me to be distracted or not and and I think we need to get past that and we're going to see what's really going to be capable in terms of true autonomous driving so uh what is the next step in this Evolution so right now we're to the point where the car can kind of steer itself um but is but is but is not really necessarily telling you to let it steer itself there there's this we're at this kind of like halting midpoint in the conversation uh where the technology has evolved to the point where it seems like technologically they could get to the point where they say in fact Google is driving cars around right now completely autonomously so that's right so what is the what is the hurdle that needs to be surmounted to get us from here to the steering wheel free car is it is it cultural is it legal is it technological there's a lot of little pieces of it and there's going to be things that you don't really expect so I mean I'm I'm going to let this car accelerate and you know someone actually wants to get in is this car going to sense and slow on down and let that person in or is it going to be kind of a jerk um you know if this car um now Google is experimenting right now and they're Drive making that car extremely polite there's different ways you drive and if you're so polite will no one ever let you in in that line so I mean there's all different types of things that have to be considered and you know it's going to take a while to get us to critical MK the technology is absolutely here so the possibilities are here but it's how are the robots going to play with the humans in fact I've heard there's been this sort of ethical question that I've seen floated around about the you know sometimes drivers have to make uh decisions where there is no good outcome right where you are either putting your own life in jeopardy or that of somebody else now so at what point does a car do you trust a car to even make an ethical decision like that well I mean that's that's really interesting I mean the point the one thing I think that's really important about that is that the car is going to have a lot more tools than you are mhm so um you know you've got two eyes you could only look forward or you could look backwards um if they do this right the car is going to be able to look 360° perhaps they'll have a better Vantage Point there'll be no blind zones um perhaps we'll get to the point where the cars going to be able to talk to all the other cars and know what's going on um and to see have their eyes too so I mean the possibilties is really endless of what the true capabilities are once you get to the next level so I gotta ask the the question that probably a lot of people want to jump to pretty quickly which is is it possible this makes us all worse drivers well I'll would put it this way you don't need to be as good of a driver anymore and and that that that comes I mean look a 100 years ago I mean when you drove along you had to kind of set the timing of the car on the steering wheel um people don't know how to drive stick shift anymore and I guess that's okay you don't need to do all that stuff um personally I mean okay I'm a gear Head I'd prefer to Shi shift myself and you know I know how to use you know manual brakes and all these things but but but it's it's enabler to for everyone to drive well and be safe and you don't have to be an expert and I guess that is good well Jake thank you so much this has been a fascinating ride and one of the nicer cars I've ever been in um and a real interesting Glimpse at the future of the human relationship to the automobile so thanks so much for uh joining me on this oh you're welcome and uh for all of us here at consumer reports in both the autos and Tech section we'll see you next time on talking TechI'm here in the Mercedes S-Class the S550 the S-Class is Mercedes most technologically advanced car that they make um and this one sort of does something special it's sort of like a stepping stone on the way to self-driving cars hi this is glender electronics editor at consumer reports and today we are going to be doing a very special edition where where we're marrying talking Tech with talking cars I'm here in the Mercedes S-Class the S550 with the director of Auto testing Jake fiser who's right here beside me hello Jake he's he's going to be our chauffeur for the day what do you think of this car in terms of in terms of its technology so self-driving cars we've talked about self-driving cars before Google's working on something this is the closest car that we have seen uh in our stable that it gets close it's not there yet but it does a lot of those different pieces so specifically what does this car do that you that that you couldn't do before sure so what this car has is a pack is in a $2,800 package on top of the $100,000 car that we're driving right here which is this testronic plus with steering assist so um I'm actually engaging it right now and so wait wait wait so let's start with what does the distronic do before we get to the plus and steering assist because dronic has been around for a while right so okay well that's basically active uh cruise control so um a lot of cars actually have that and that's come down in uh just even mainstream Vehicles having that now which instead of saying okay I want to go 70 M an hour I'm going to go three car lengths behind the car that's in front of me and but no more than 70 mph and it's keeping you there automatically right it's keeping gas and the brakes that's exactly right okay so now how does it do let's get to the the technology behind that so it's if I understand it correctly it's radar it's sort of radar some of these systems use uh use laser is that correct there's right there's a variety of ways you could do it you could do with laser you could could do with cameras you could do it with radar whatever it is sensing the car that's in front of you and actually making sure that you're a certain set distance behind that car so now that's been around for years right yes so now this steering assist really sort of it's interesting that we're sort of layering systems on top of one another on the way towards autonomy right right so so so there's a couple pieces of it so there's one piece is is that one of the things that this this system does also it'll come to complete stop and continue going and not all systems do that often get around 20 M hour so they'll just beep at you and say you're on your own this car won't do that so even if your foot is on the gas well no so so let me actually sit I will set this right now and um we don't need to do that well actually right now I I have I have the system set so it's set for 40 mil per hour or don't hit the car in front of me so um as we're cruising along as we slow down the car will completely SL down if this car stops my foot's not on the brake right now all right so car got off off the and it's accelerating again so right now you're steering but the caring all the bring and is doing everything else and you can see we're coming to a red a red light here so I'm accelerating this car good thing we have our belts on right it's a little scary to get used to that's for sure and what it works better at is with you're following car so as that car slows down it'll come to a stop and um it's not not as scary in those so now where this is starting to evolve even further though is is in that it's going to take control of the steering system now just before we attempt that for our next trick let's get let's get into the concept of is this an electromechanical assist is this a steer by wire like how I mean for most of human Automotive relations there's been a direct linkage between the steering wheel and the uh and and the and the steering column and so on so what's it doing to overtake that sure so I mean there is still a direct this isn't steer by wire or anything like that um you're still uh connected what it's doing is just it's it's Servo or electrical motors that are actually adjusting the steering for you so it'll so I mean let's let's go ahead and try it so so right now I've set it to uh follow this car in front of me with these roughly painted lines that with these roughly painted lines and um and let's see so there's a little green uh steering wheel which tells you when it's engaged so my hands are off the wheel it's steering now this car in front of me it's stopping it's slowing down again my hands are off the wheel I'm not on the brake now I and I'm I'm I'm I'm hoping but there you go complete it should go to a complete stop now I want to say as somebody who inherently trusts technology this now we're going again this is still a little unnerving right it's extremely unnerving and this is not the way you're supposed to be using the system these s the system is designed to be a you know the the belts to your suspenders or whatever it is you know I mean it's not supposed to primarily drive the car and what you ALS what also just happened there and I'm accelerating as the car got out of the way but what also is happening is you're not supposed to take your hands off the wheel don't try this at home kids because when you take care home of the wheel it will alert you and tell you get your hands back on the wheel or we're going to just shut down I see so now so it's easy for a car company to sort of have it both ways right to say oh we're get we're delivering you this system but you're really not supposed to it's you know they're stepping towards autonomy but you're really not supposed to use it that way so how are consumer supposed to really take this is this a is this is seems like Mi mix messaging to me you have a you know don't worry we'll prevent you from steering off the road but if you steer off the road it's your fault because you took your hands off the wheel well I mean that's exactly what it is so uh you know I mean where it get really scary is if people start relying on these systems and you should not do that I mean and the scary part is it's like well I have all the systems here I could just go and compile my email or text or search Facebook because my car is going to take care of me it's not designed for that and they're not advertising it to do that what they're doing is not advertising it to do that but I but okay so we we're looking here at all these beautiful little screens and I'm hoping the cameras can catch this but there's all these wonderful little screens with tons of extra settings and there's so much invitation to just start tinkering with the other stuff and the other car like this can do I think there's a there's a rotating video screen of a vehicle here with all kinds of gorgeous Graphics I Can't Take My Eyes Off them I don't know yeah well I mean I mean that's exactly it so I mean you've gotten to the point where there are so many options on this I mean we go through here there's the vehicle settings in those vehicle settings I mean you could change the color of the ambient light in the vehicle you could I mean I have to pull over to really do this but they I mean it's unbelievable you could change the scent of this car you know what kind of air freshener are you interested in how much air freshener would you like how bright is the ambient look light colors it's it's mind-blowing so as you're doing this they're putting in these safety things to make sure that you don't Veer off the side of the road or crash and so what what happens when there's a conflict between what you actually do want to do uh let's say you do you do want to change lanes or you do or there is some good reason that you're pulling off the side of the road you could always override the systems and at one so at what point do you believe there is the Tipping Point where where the car manufacturers are going to say all right we're finally comfortable enough with the evolution of this technology that you should take your hands off the wheel and go ahead and do something else is there ever a sort of a point of both cultural acceptance of that and sort of technological Evolution where we can get to that point because there are some some potential benefits to that oh absolutely I mean it I mean there's no doubt that time will come um and it's not just about you know people expectations and their acceptance of it but it's also the laws um you know I mean the first time someone crashes into a self-driving vehicle um that who gets sued well right I mean that self-driving vehicle has to be a really really good witness and it may it may actually videotape everything that's going around it so the but I I want to get to some of the potential advantages though for instance one that I've that that I've been fascinated with is this idea that the evolution of this technology is occurring at just the same time that the the one of the largest Generations in American history is entering uh sort of is getting older and older and entering this period where maybe they shouldn't be driving a car and maybe it might be more dangerous to uh to allow people who are in their 70s and 80s perhaps to be to be behind the wheel well I mean the the end game of this and really when we get self-driving and and you're going to get to the point where there's no steering wheel in the car and at that point not only the older people blind people um all different types of people I mean will be able to be have the freedom of a vehicle and not even know how to drive and be able to do their work and but but but right now we're in this kind of interim point where it's kind of you know are you enabling me to be distracted or not and and I think we need to get past that and we're going to see what's really going to be capable in terms of true autonomous driving so uh what is the next step in this Evolution so right now we're to the point where the car can kind of steer itself um but is but is but is not really necessarily telling you to let it steer itself there there's this we're at this kind of like halting midpoint in the conversation uh where the technology has evolved to the point where it seems like technologically they could get to the point where they say in fact Google is driving cars around right now completely autonomously so that's right so what is the what is the hurdle that needs to be surmounted to get us from here to the steering wheel free car is it is it cultural is it legal is it technological there's a lot of little pieces of it and there's going to be things that you don't really expect so I mean I'm I'm going to let this car accelerate and you know someone actually wants to get in is this car going to sense and slow on down and let that person in or is it going to be kind of a jerk um you know if this car um now Google is experimenting right now and they're Drive making that car extremely polite there's different ways you drive and if you're so polite will no one ever let you in in that line so I mean there's all different types of things that have to be considered and you know it's going to take a while to get us to critical MK the technology is absolutely here so the possibilities are here but it's how are the robots going to play with the humans in fact I've heard there's been this sort of ethical question that I've seen floated around about the you know sometimes drivers have to make uh decisions where there is no good outcome right where you are either putting your own life in jeopardy or that of somebody else now so at what point does a car do you trust a car to even make an ethical decision like that well I mean that's that's really interesting I mean the point the one thing I think that's really important about that is that the car is going to have a lot more tools than you are mhm so um you know you've got two eyes you could only look forward or you could look backwards um if they do this right the car is going to be able to look 360° perhaps they'll have a better Vantage Point there'll be no blind zones um perhaps we'll get to the point where the cars going to be able to talk to all the other cars and know what's going on um and to see have their eyes too so I mean the possibilties is really endless of what the true capabilities are once you get to the next level so I gotta ask the the question that probably a lot of people want to jump to pretty quickly which is is it possible this makes us all worse drivers well I'll would put it this way you don't need to be as good of a driver anymore and and that that that comes I mean look a 100 years ago I mean when you drove along you had to kind of set the timing of the car on the steering wheel um people don't know how to drive stick shift anymore and I guess that's okay you don't need to do all that stuff um personally I mean okay I'm a gear Head I'd prefer to Shi shift myself and you know I know how to use you know manual brakes and all these things but but but it's it's enabler to for everyone to drive well and be safe and you don't have to be an expert and I guess that is good well Jake thank you so much this has been a fascinating ride and one of the nicer cars I've ever been in um and a real interesting Glimpse at the future of the human relationship to the automobile so thanks so much for uh joining me on this oh you're welcome and uh for all of us here at consumer reports in both the autos and Tech section we'll see you next time on talking Tech\n"