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The time we spend in the car is considerable and at Mercedes they know it well. According to research conducted a few years ago by CSA Research, let’s talk about more than four years throughout our life.
Precisely for this reason, many of the efforts and investments in research and development by car manufacturers are focused on creating interiors increasingly “on a human scale”.
Also because, already today, the our way of spending time in the car is changing considerably and in the future, thanks to autonomous driving, it will change even more, leaving us more time and attention to devote to connectivity and multimedia services. Which are already evolving in that direction, as evidenced by the innovations introduced in the new S-Class.
Star among the stars
Always a pioneer in new technologies, the renewed Star flagship lives up to its role by taking a further step in versus inflight entertainment. This time, however, compared to what has been done in other sectors, Mercedes is not an absolute innovator but takes a path already shown by someone with much less history behind it.
With the new generation of the Mbux system, the intelligent interface on board, it has indeed taken a big step forward compared to the first version of the device itself, launched in the current A-Class a couple of years ago, but to do so it has Inspire me by those who have always invested heavily in infotainment and “user experience” in general: Tesla.
First time on Model S
The Palo Alto house, since the first Model S, has worked against the current by proposing different user interface of those generally used in models of the same category.
The absence of physical keys, as well as the vertical screen development of the infotainment system, are solutions that Tesla was the first to adopt and that are now adopted by many manufacturers, even those historically always avant-garde, including Mercedes itself.
The new German flagship revolutionizes its system not only in terms of software and functions, but also and above all by what concerns ergonomics, proposing for the first time a vertical development screen and completely reviewing the way of using it and accessing the information and functions contained in it.
Sharper thanks to OLEDs
The screen has a diagonal of 12.8 inches with a resolution of 1,888 x 1,728 pixels, and takes advantage of the organic LED technology (Oled) to ensure more accentuated contrasts and therefore greater visibility (to obtain black the LEDs are turned off, and thus we speak of “absolute black”).
The upper part of the screen is dedicated to all the entertainment and management functions of the car. in addition to those of the browser, while from the bottom you can control the weather. To close one think soft touch key strip, among which a small fingerprint reader also stands out.
Looks at you and anticipates you
Through this you can select your profile, also accessing personal data such as your contact list, just to give an example. The screen also thanks to a series of sensors and cameras Aimed at the driver and passenger, it is equipped with intelligence capable of anticipating certain functions based on the movements carried out by those on board.
If you place a hand near the screen, for example, it will automatically zoom to the icons on the home page for easy selection. But that is not all. The sensor array is used to make life on board easier usually. For example, if you extend an arm toward the passenger seat while driving at night, the S-Class will automatically turn on the courtesy lights in that area of the car.
Remote updates
But the new generation of Mbux also brings new solutions to its debut on the updates front that now, as in the electric Palo Alto, it can be done OTA, or “over the air”.
It has been happening since 2016 but only for navigation, while now the concept also extends to functions and components that go far beyond the browser. According to Mercedes, in fact, today there are 50 electronic components of the S-Class that can be remotely upgraded.
These include all the functions of the Mbux, the digital instrument panel (which has now been converted to 3D), the driver assistance systems, and the Multibeam LED and Digital Light lighting systems. With the ability to activate or unlock new functions.
In contact with the house
Important in the S-Class is the concept of information exchange. If the car is also equipped with two screens for the rear passengers, from the central one in the front it is possible to share screens, videos, songs and much more with the rest of the screens on board.
And speaking of sharing information, the multimedia system can also communicate with the smart devices in our homes. Through the voice assistant then it will be possible to ask to increase the temperature in the house or turn on the light in a specific room, while we are still traveling. All without having to take your eyes off the road.
And perhaps this is the true revolution that the new Mbux has brought to the field, its usability while driving. Of course, to really understand how it behaves in daily use we will have to wait to test it, but reading the specifications is definitely impressed.
Evolution of the revolution
Solutions that promise to make the MBUX S-Class as simple, intuitive and usable as possible and that truly seem to be the very latest in what can be found in a car today.
From voice commands, to the large size of the screen that facilitates the acquisition of information, to the predictive recognition of the commands given by the driver or passenger.
All secondary solutions of one philosophy born with Tesla and today brought to the world of sedans not (yet) electric thanks to Mercedes which, as has already happened with other technologies, turns its flagship into a novel laboratory to trace the path of the rest of the Star models, the EQ range first .
