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Comment by Tepix | Hacker News Reader

Are you aware that Mercedes has L3 (in limited circumstances) rolled out already?

Yes, far as I can tell, it's mostly a marketing gimmick. I think it works below 40mph in stop-and-go traffic on Nevada freeways, and doesn't do any navigation and just stays in its lane. They can put out a press release about "L3" all they want, but there's nothing to suggest this is more than an off-the-shelf ADAS/LKAS with some additional driver monitoring. This is not the type of technology or strategy you see anyone serious about self-driving working on.

Mercedes is taking legal liability for all actions of the car while it is in L3 autonomous mode, which Mercedes calls "Drive Pilot." That feels like more than a marketing gimmick, especially since no other automakers have assumed liability like this (that I know of). I am in stop-and-go traffic on the highway all the time during rush hour, it would still be beneficial to just read a book or work on my laptop while the car drives, even in that limited circumstance.

Doesn’t appear to be clearly true. https://www.autonews.com/mobility-report/mercedes-drive-pilo...

And taking legal liability in very narrow (essentially useless) circumstances is exactly why it’s a marketing thing. It’s to make it seem like they have an advanced system when there is no evidence of them having it or having any realistic path forward.

Non-paywalled link for that: https://archive.li/VnOk5

After reading that, it's hard to tell what Mercedes is doing. :/

Hopefully it's not just marketing bullshit, but I guess we'll all only find out over time.

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