Innovation and technical leadership are basically what Mercedes-Benz stands for, right?
Especially with the reveal of the Mercedes-Benz VISION AVTR, the soon to come EQS by Mercedes-EQ, or the Mercedes-EQ Silver Arrow 02
which you can see in the Formula E season 7.
Today I’ve been invited to an exclusive behind the scenes to come and check out three unique and innovative approaches to electric mobility
and to make up my own mind about how technological leadership is managed at Mercedes-Benz.
Hi guys, I’m Matt. Now, some of you may already know me but for those of you who don’t, I’ve been working with Mercedes-Benz for quite some time now –
especially when it comes to Mercedes-EQ and everything it stands for.
But today it’s all about tech.
Now, Mercedes-Benz is said to be a leader in technology, and they prove that time and time again in Formula 1.
However, can the same still be said for its sustainable cousin, Formula E?
Well today, I get to find out from some serious tech nerds: Christoph
and Ian.
So, Matt let me introduce you to the Mercedes-Benz VISION AVTR.
It’s actually a visual representation of what we think the future of mobility might look like. – Yeah.
It’s a completely human-centred approach to our sustainable and intuitive mobility.
We created it in collaboration with the filmmakers of AVATAR. – It’s incredible.
It’s basically a merge between a human, machine and nature. – Yeah.
And it reacts to its environment.
Each wheel has its own motor. – Why is that?
It’s cool, it’s impressive but why is it so helpful?
Steer the power and the energy where you need it. – Right.
You cannot only drive straight but also go sideways. – Wow.
We have a battery here. – Okay.
A pretty amazing one.
This battery is graphene-based, so it’s one hundred percent recyclable.
No fossil resources needed, nothing. – That’s incredible.
Let’s power the beauty up. – Oh my god.
It is amazing but it is something for the future, right?
The idea, I mean, the whole car is a vision – but some of the elements are already being tested on your home streets.
Hi Ian, how are you? – I’m very well indeed, Matt. How are you? Great to meet you.
Yeah, very well. Great to meet you, too!
So, I was with Christoph and he was telling me that the Mercedes-Benz VISION AVTR links somehow to this car, the Mercedes-EQ Silver Arrow 02,
and he said that it’s already being tested on the road?
Yeah, it’s not always obvious, I have to admit, but at Mercedes-Benz, we’ve been involved with motorsport now for over 126 years
and throughout that time we’ve used motorsport very much as a test bed for new technologies.
And with Formula E now, we’ve got the opportunity to do that for electric vehicles as well.
The other thing is that we’re racing in some of the most iconic cities in the world,
be that through Paris or London, New York or wherever that might be.
And that means we’re actually bringing that technology, that education as well to a whole new target group.
I mean the car itself, it’s so foreign to me.
I don’t think I could even fit in here, could I?
I wouldn’t recommend it. – Yeah.
I couldn’t even get you out again. – Exactly. I’ll get stuck.
Look, to me it’s an incredibly impressive car.
It’s an electric car.
It’s an electric racing car.
But for everyone watching, just, if you could tell us a few standouts, specs, you know.
The car itself speeds up to about 280 km/h on the circuits –
which, yes, may not be as fast as other series ultimately,
but you’re racing on the city centre street circuits which are incredibly narrow.
The car weighs 900 kg and the power’s starting at 200 kW during the race and up to 235 when we’re using Attack Mode.
Now all of you can probably tell that I’m passionate about what we do here with Formula E.
I’m also a little bit jealous because you’ve already had the opportunity,
I know, to try the EQS by Mercedes-EQ in Immendingen and I understand that we’ve got one here today so it would be brilliant if we can move again and take a look.
I’m as excited as you are. Do you want to lead the way?
Let’s going to take a look. – Awesome.
Christoph. Good to see you again. – Good to see you again.
And really great to see this.
It’s really something else. – I’m insanely jealous.
You had the opportunity to see it in Immendingen first time around, but it’s great to be here and genuinely this is the first time that I’ve seen it myself in the metal.
I mean for me it’s so different from any other products that we’ve had before from Mercedes-Benz.
You can definitely see some design elements which we had in the Mercedes-Benz VISION AVTR also on this vehicle.
Starting with the lights in the front but also with the seamless design going to the back.The aerodynamics were key in developing this car.
Matt, Ian, welcome to my lounge. – Yeah, very much so.
So, we’ve got the newest MBUX technology in here, we’ve got a seamless screen going through the cockpit.
We’ve got over-the-air updates to keep it fresh.
It is personalised for you, so it makes your life easier.
The other step forward in technology from an automotive perspective is autonomous driving.
Yeah, I mean the autonomous driving will come shortly now with the Mercedes-Benz S-Class being launched
and this one will have the same technology in the car as well.
One additional feature that I would like to point out is augmented reality projected onto the screen.
We really take care of our customers.
The EQS by Mercedes-EQ can be equipped with an HEPA filter that creates air quality on a new level inside the car.
Safety is a key feature plus also health.
So, we have rear-axle steering in this particular EQS of 10 degrees.
So, if we turn, the back turns simultaneously. – Yes, exactly.
Right.
That gives you all the flexibility to make really quick turns.
So, today’s been an absolute blast, but I got so caught up with all the technology
that I forgot to do what I’m actually here to do which is question how sustainable Mercedes-Benz truly is.
This wouldn’t be the moment of truth if I would let you guys down so let me tell you this:
Formula E is the first professional sports series that is certified to be a hundred percent emissions-free.
These guys certainly do their homework.
Peace.
While you’re there, just one thing that I thought about.
Because we’ve got the Mercedes-Benz VISION AVTR here and we spoke earlier about technology transfer between motorsport and the road.
There’s another project that we haven’t spoken about and that is the EQXX.