Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Cars
  3. News

Next Mercedes-Benz S-Class could feature gesture-recognition tech

By

The Mercedes-Benz S-Class is viewed by many as a crystal ball, showing technologies that will eventually trickle down to more mainstream cars.

The current S-Class doesn’t disappoint. An array of sensors and cameras predict a higher level of vehicle automation that seems likely to become the norm in the next few years. Apparently, Reaganomics only works when it comes to car tech.

Recommended Videos

So if today’s S-Class is already changing the automotive landscape, what does Mercedes have in store for the next S-Class?

Related

In an interview with Auto Express, Mercedes chief interior designer Jan Kaul hinted at some of the features that will appear in the next-generation model, due in 2018.

Among the highlights is gesture-recognition technology. This will be limited to certain functions – you won’t swipe at the air to input a destination into the navigation system – but Mercedes believes this tech has a place in its cars.

Related: Mercedes-Benz considers all-electric S-Class

Considering that the driver is supposed to have his or her hands on the wheel at all times, it’s difficult to see how gesture controls will work. The system will have to be accurate enough to correlate actions with many variations on a given gesture, but respond quickly as well.

Maybe Mercedes drivers will operate it by blinking.

The next S-Class will also feature a large display screen like the one that sweeps across the dashboard of the current model. However, Mercedes won’t do anything as radical as Tesla’s 16-inch touchscreen.

The massive screen gets a lot of attention for the Model S, but Kaul said it’s impractical because it forces users to reach for a virtual “button,” and because the vertical positioning puts some functions too low on the center console.

In addition to being blanketed in tech, the next S-Class interior will feature a novel construction method.

The one-piece seats and air vents from the Concept S-Class Coupe shown at last year’s Frankfurt Auto Show are apparently high on Mercedes’ priority list.

The seats would feature a more elegant design, but could still incorporate the heating, adjustment, and massage functions of the lounge chairs Mercedes customers expect.

It may even be possible to 3D-print some trim pieces, although Mercedes will have to a lot of testing to see if the parts meet its quality standards.

That all sounds pretty good, but where will Mercedes go from there? Mind-reading technology?

Editors' Recommendations

Stephen Edelstein
Stephen Edelstein
Contributing Editor
Stephen is a freelance automotive journalist covering all things cars. He likes anything with four wheels, from classic cars…
Mercedes is finally bringing an electric van to the U.S.
Front three quarter view of the 2024 Mercedes-Benz eSprinter electric van.

Mercedes-Benz might be known for luxury cars, but it also makes vans, and it's finally bringing an electric van to the United States.

Scheduled to start production this summer, the 2024 Mercedes-Benz eSprinter is an all-electric version of the Sprinter full-size cargo van that's already a favorite of delivery services like FedEx and Amazon, as well as camper van converters. While the automaker has been selling electric vans in Europe since 2010, the new eSprinter is the first one aimed at the U.S. market.

Read more
2023 Mercedes-Benz EQE SUV preview: The EV lineup grows again
Front three quarter view of the 2023 Mercedes-Benz EQE SUV.

As Mercedes-Benz has steadily expanded its EQ range of electric cars, the lineup has become a bit like the late stages of a Tetris game. It’s mostly complete, but with a few gaps still left. And the 2023 Mercedes-Benz EQE SUV is the piece that perfectly fits one of them.
Mercedes recently launched two other electric SUVs at opposite ends of the price spectrum. The EQS SUV is positioned as the lineup’s flagship, while the EQB is the entry-level model. The EQE SUV slots between those two in size and, presumably, price. The latter hasn’t been confirmed yet, and likely won’t be until the EQE SUV’s planned March 2023 on-sale date.

Design
As the name says, the EQE SUV is a utility-vehicle version of the EQE sedan, which will likely beat it to showrooms by a few months. Mercedes did the same thing with the EQS, which is available in both SUV and sedan body styles.
With its tall, upright profile, the EQE SUV definitely looks like a proper SUV compared to the low-slung EQE sedan. Park it next to an EQS SUV, though, and you’ll have to get out a measuring tape to spot the differences.
The EQE SUV is 0.6 inch narrower and 1.2 inches lower than the EQS SUV, but the most significant difference is in length. The EQE SUV is 10.3 inches shorter than the EQS SUV, with a 2.1-inch shorter wheelbase. And while the EQS SUV has three-row seating, the EQE SUV has two rows. Based on our experience with the EQS SUV’s third row, that’s not a big loss.
The interior design theme carries over from other Mercedes EQ models, with an expansive sloping dashboard designed to accommodate many screens, and multicolor ambient lighting that should look pretty dramatic at night. However, leatherette upholstery is standard, rather than real leather, which Mercedes is now spinning as a vegan option.

Read more
We tested the self-driving Mercedes tech so advanced, it’s not allowed in the U.S.
Mercedes-Benz S-Class sedan with Drive Pilot.

You can’t buy a fully self-driving car today -- and may never be able to -- but automakers are looking at ways to shift more of the workload from human drivers to machinery. Mercedes-Benz may have taken the biggest step in that direction yet.

Mercedes claims its Drive Pilot system, which was recently launched in Germany, is the first production system to achieve Level 3 on the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) autonomy scale, meaning the car can fully drive itself with the system active, but a human driver may still need to take over from time to time. It’s still a long way off from autonomous driving, but the Level 3 designation signifies a greater degree of capability than competitor systems.

Read more