A glimpse into the Mercedes-Benz Future Technologies Lab

Back to the future: A glimpse into the Mercedes-Benz Future Technologies Lab

What could lurk under your 2030 E-Class

It’s an obvious problem to see cities around the world getting denser and even more troubled with traffic. Futurists at Mercedes Benz have developed images based on various collaborations with city authorities around the globe, technology experts and urban planners to come up with a vision of life on the streets in the year 2040. While the vision is based on some of the more developed cities like Los Angeles, Shenzhen and London, the common thread across all of them is the need for smarter streets. From smart signages to smarter cars, Stuff (India) was taken behind the scenes of the Mercedes Future Technologies Lab to have an early preview of what the Mercedes mavens are dreaming up.

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Through the looking glass

Hyper-personalisation is the direction of the future for Mercedes-Benz and it all starts with the BYOD concept. Bring Your Own Device allows customers to start their day at home getting their daily calendar appointments and updates while wearing the glasses and having a cuppa. As you exit your home, your tristar steed autonomously drives up to you with your preferred temperature, seating position and radio station already set. As you make your way to your workplace, the MBUX system already knows that since you’ve had your caffeine fix at home, to take the faster route to the office. Now this is where the dreamscape gets real as I was ushered into an EQS SUV with a mixed-reality headset on and as I was loaded on to the passenger seat and being driven around Sindelfingen, I could see navigation instructions, waypoints and even a cool “star carpet” that acted as a guide to stay on the right road. A subtle animation of twinkling blue stars virtually lights up your way, ensuring that you always stay on the right track even if you ignore the navigation instructions. Mercedes has also envisioned a completely autonomous driving scenario where either the driver or the passengers could continue doing tasks they started at home on their headsets and settle into a more relaxed position in the car and continue ticking things off the to-do list.

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Retail of the future

Of course, the most obvious and feasible use of the MR or VR world is in the retail experience where customers can freely configure the finer details on their preferred car either as an overlay on a real car or on a completely virtual model. Having experienced this first hand at the Future Technologies Lab, I can vouch for its realism and authenticity. With nothing but an office chair as a placeholder for a driver's seat, with the help of the Apple Vision Pro, I was transported into the cabin of the Mercedes EQS. Everything from the double stitching on the trim to the finely crafted steering felt so realistic that I could extend my hands on the virtual steering and almost feel it. On the other hand, Mercedes designers and engineers could use the same tech during the development phase of a vehicle to interact with teams from across the globe, yet with everyone virtually in the same room and during a live demo of such a scenario, it was instantly evident that this is the way of the future to reduce latency in decision making and significantly reduce development cost.

Power to think

Now, if we're talking cars that practically think for themselves, packed with more bells and whistles than a Bollywood wedding procession, all that fancy tech needs juice, and that's where things get tricky. Mercedes-Benz is diving deep into the world of artificial neural networks and neuromorphic computing. Think of it as giving cars a brain inspired by our own messy, marvelous noggins. They're even teaming up with the brainiacs at the University of Waterloo in Canada to crack this nut. Neuromorphic computing mimics the human brain, enhancing AI efficiency and speed, by a factor of 10! Safety systems can recognize traffic signs and road users more accurately and react faster, even in less than ideal lighting conditions. Future vehicles will be equipped with neuromorphic cameras, capable of capturing and processing visual data in the form of discrete events, rather than traditional frames. This event-based approach minimizes latency and allows for real-time responses to even the slightest changes in the environment, like a fatigued driver's microsleeps.

But the real game-changer? Neuromorphic computing has the potential to reduce the energy consumption of autonomous driving systems by a staggering 90%!

Let there be light…and power

When the goal is hitting new records in efficiency, every little bit counts. Solar panels have been around for a few decades but when you ride the R&D program into the next chapter of electrification, bigger strides need to be made. As one would expect, the boffins at Mercedes have figured a way to leapfrog the competition by literally coating the car in solar paint! These under-development solar modules that can be applied to the EV bodywork, generating up to 12,000 kilometers of energy annually under ideal conditions. The solar paint is highly efficient and made from non-toxic, readily available materials, is easy to recycle and cheaper to produce than conventional solar modules. At just 5 micrometers thick, they’re thinner than a human hair, weigh only 50 grams per square meter and are packed with energy. They would be easily stuck to the body of electric vehicles on any surface, like a super thin layer of paste.And to make matters more exciting, Mercedes-Benz is working to enable use of the new solar paint on all exterior vehicle surfaces, regardless of shape or angle.

Intelligent batteries

Similarly, to obtain the most of the battery cells, a smarter way to control the power electronics is being worked out. A power converter is used to regulate cells via programmable micro-converters for electric vehicles. This could revolutionize high-voltage architectures by enabling individual control of battery cells and optimizing energy flow. Research shows that this can provide a constant high voltage (HV) output of 800 volts, no matter how charged or healthy each cell is. The output voltage of this vehicle battery doesn’t depend on how many cells are connected in series. The number of cells in use is just based on how much power and capacity is needed by the driver.

Nature made Spiders, Man-made Silk!

Just like efficiency, sustainability needs to be looked at from a new lens as well for the future. Spun from genetically modified bacteria, the material science specialists at Mercedes’ Future Technologies Lab have created a silk-like yarn that is the result of a cutting-edge wet spinning process, giving it a luxurious feell. But it's not just about aesthetics; this material is incredibly strong, lightweight, and 100% biodegradable. Already used in the VISION EQXX and Concept CLA Class, mass production and scalability is still a few years away, and only once a series of intensive tests on its durability and longevity are carried out. Closer to production use is an alternate leather material, made from a combination of recycled plastic and bio-based materials. In a complicated sequence of processes, extracts from used tyres and biomethane from agricultural waste are converted into plastic fibres and when bio-polymers are added to this mix, the result is a “voila” moment. A leather-like material with natural ageing properties and which is breathable, waterproof and is lighter than real leather. Artico, which is currently being used in production spec Mercedes, is not quite the same thing but think of it as a stop-gap solution until these new materials are greenlit for production.

Are we ready for the future?

After spending a couple of action-packed days shadowing engineers, futurists, material and mixed-reality specialists, it became obvious that the billions being invested today are going to reap benefits tomorrow. Like most conceptual ideas that other brands are developing too, like e-Ink exterior colour, level-5 autonomous driving, shape-shifting bodies, much of it needs to be tested out in the real world at scale to determine its long-term feasibility and success. But certain ideas like the In-drive Braking which integrates the brakes into the electric drive motor itself, is more sustainable, durable, and reliable than conventional brakes. Not to mention it makes for a much lighter wheel/tyre assembly and makes brake systems virtually maintenance free. Whether we see any of this in the next generation of Mercedes-Benz cars remains to be seen, but the learnings from Vision EQXX and the Concept One-Eleven are indeed being explored to see the light of day.