[Music Playing]
So the Mercedes A Class isn't something new.
It's a compact car that's been around for a while.
It's a refresh of that compact car.
It's a gasoline powered car so it's not electric, which is what we're usually interested in,
but the technology inside of it is still pretty interesting and that's what we're going to
take a look at today.
Mercedes brought us out here to Amsterdam.
This isn't a sponsored video but they did pay for the flight, so keep that in mind.
Even though electric cars are the way of the future, the technology is progressing through
the gasoline powered cars first.
So some of the technology we see inside of the gasoline powered cars is what's going
to end up in the electric cars in the future.
[Music Playing]
So we're inside the event now and we don't see the car just yet.
There is a camo version over here which I'll show you in just a second, but we're wondering
where the real cars are going to come out.
[Dan] I think it's going to come out of the ground right here on this circle.
And then smoke...and lights.
I'm hoping!
[Zack] It's a huge circle so it might happen that way.
But I'm thinking that this garage door is going to open up and the cars are going to
drive out like normal.
[Dan] That's kind of boring.
Maybe the ceiling...I don't know.
[Zack] Yeah, they could drop down.
[Dan] We'll see.
We're going to wait for two hours in the front row just so that we can can have a front seat.
[Zack] We're going to get the best shot of these cars coming out...after we get some
food.
[Music Playing]
[Zack] So this is a camo-ed version of the real car.
They have it painted with all these different lines and curves and stuff so if it's, you
know, if pictures are taken out in public, it kind of hides the definition of the car.
The real version will be painted like normal and not camouflaged.
All the insides are covered up, but I'm pretty sure this is close to the final version...unlike
the Faraday car which the interior was unfinished.
The lights are hidden from view.
It looks like this is vinyl tape over the whole car.
The sun roof is sweet though.
So right now I'm standing on like the center stage where the whole presentation is going
to happen.
And we're in this huge warehouse that used to be right next to the docks....remember
we got here on a boat?
And so if you look up here, right here is like the sky crane thing that travels along
these huge metal rails all along the length of the building.
And I'm assuming they used to build like big boats and stuff in here.
We saw the same thing at the NASA facility back when I went and watched the Space X launch.
So it's cool that Mercedes is repurposing this building for one of their events.
[Music Playing]
Here comes the fog.
Nice.
[Dan] You ready for this?
[Zack] Yeah.
[Singing]
[Zack] We thought the car was going to come out...but that wasn't the car.
Maybe next time.
[Dan] There's like the one more thing in reverse.
[Speaker] Please stand up and check it out for yourselves.
[Zack] So this is the Mercedes A Class and it might be the most high tech car they've
ever made and the exterior looks pretty sweet as well.
So one thing I really like about this car is that there are hardly any seams.
You can see that this body panel goes all the way up over the door and all the way down
and back here by the tire.
They've tried to get rid of all of the creases and all of the seams between the body panels
all over the car.
This is the A Class 2018 and it has dual displays, one here on the left and one here on the right,
with all of these air vents right here.
And the cool thing about the display is, right here on this little head up unit, is that
I can control this tiny little track pad by my thumb.
So as I swipe up and down, you can see that centered console moving around up and down
for different displays.
And this screen over here is handled with my other thumb.
I can swipe through all the different menus and displays, and pressing it, you know, moves
through all the maps and stuff like that.
It's pretty sweet, and there are a bunch of safety features as well.
There are a bunch of cameras and stuff all around the outside of the vehicle with radar
and lidar, and the sensors we've seen inside of the Tesla's and other cars.
But one safety feature that I've never heard of before is something to protect your ears
before you crash.
So you know those few split seconds when you're holding something glass and you drop it and
you know 100% for sure that it's going to hit the ground and shatter everywhere?
Cars can think faster than humans and they realize through all of their sensors when
something is going to crash, and all of the speakers in the car will emit a frequency
that your eardrum can hear.
And kind of how like your pupils dilate when you see the sun and when you see light, and
it keeps the light from going in your eyes and like damaging it.
The same thing happens when the sound emits from the speakers.
It's kind of like a white noise little blip, and it will keep your ears from getting damaged
when you crash into something, because crashes are noisy.
And that's not something that everybody thinks about, you know, your ears.
It's like when you're playing video games and someone tosses a grenade [grenade explosion
sound], [ringing sound] and you have that ringing sound in your ears in the video game?
The same thing happens after loud noises and explosions and crashes.
And Mercedes has taken that into consideration and protected your ears in this car.
There's also a little touch pad down here at the bottom and this controls, you know,
more...there are so many buttons inside of this car it's insane.
I'm still going to drive my Tacoma around everywhere, but it's nice to see where the
technology is headed, whether it's a gas engine or an electric engine, you know, the technology
can be applied either way.
And as cars shift gradually into the electric and alternative energy sources, this technology
is just going to get better and better.
Another cool feature about this car is augmented reality on the display screen as you're driving
through.
You know, like with Google maps and Apple maps it has a little icon showing you on a
two dimensional screen where you're going and where you're traveling.
On this car it actually shows the road in front of you with arrows and stuff in a 3
dimensional world augmented reality.
Along with a sweet car lines we have the sun roof right up here.
And this whole glass panel shifts up and back over the back part of the car to let all of
the sun and air flow through while you're in the car.
So like I said before, I'm a truck guy.
I'm going to keep driving my truck personally.
But when Mercedes invites you out to Amsterdam to one of their launch events, you go.
And this has been a really cool experience, so thank you Mercedes for bringing us out
here and showing off the awesome technology.
I love where things are headed.
And to you guys, thanks a ton for watching.
I will see you around.