In a world first and also in time for the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, the new Mercedes-Benz E-Class has been awarded a test licence for autonomous driving in the U.S.A state of Nevada, the world's first standard-production vehicle to receive a test license.

To allow autonomous driving functions to be tested, test vehicles previously had to be elaborately equipped with special hardware and software, such as additional sensors, modified steering and an adapted ESP. However, this is no longer the case with the new E-Class, with the standard production vehicles already extensively equipped with intelligent technology. For testing purposes, only some smaller software modifications to the DRIVE PILOT control unit is necessary.

Prof. Thomas Weber, Member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG, Group Research & Mercedes-Benz Cars Development, stresses, "The fact that Mercedes- Benz is the world's first vehicle manufacturer to be awarded such a licence shows that we are a step ahead when it comes to autonomous Driving. The new E-Class is therefore another big step to the fully automated vehicle."