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German car-maker unveils the latest in its 50-year history of safety concept cars

Mercedes-Benz has debuted the vehicle to take on the next Zombie Apocalypse.

Well, not really, but the latest in the German luxury marque’s Experimental Safety Vehicles (ESF) series of safety concept cars has been unveiled. And on-trend, it’s based on an SUV that’s also a plug-in hybrid.

The GLE-Class based ESF 2019 was unveiled last week during safety workshops at Mercedes-Benz safety HQ in Stuttgart.

The new vehicle, which incorporates over a dozen safety innovations, will make its first public appearance in June 2019 at the 26th International Technical Conference on The Enhanced Safety of Vehicles at Eindhoven in The Netherlands.

Key to the focus of the new ESF 2019 is addressing the safety challenges of autonomous driving. The ESF 2019 includes, for example, a retractable yoke-shaped steering wheel and pedals that are also retracted when the vehicle’s proposed level four autonomous capability is in action.

The potential of the driver therefore being positioned away from the wheel (perhaps even reclined) sees changes too.

To ensure the driver is protected, the front seatbelts are now seat-mounted and a new pair of ‘wing’ style airbags has been pioneered. The driver’s airbag is also relocated from the centre of the wheel to the instrument panel and can now be an asymmetric design akin to what is used in current passenger side airbags.

Other focus areas addressed in the Mercedes-Benz ESF 2019 include: new PRE-Safe and active safety systems; enhanced child and rear passenger safety; cooperative communication aimed at connecting road users with autonomous cars; pro-active traffic hazard warnings post incident; and additional detection systems for the protection of vulnerable road users.

The new ESF 2019 even features daylight interior lighting systems which Mercedes-Benz claims can assist in drivers’ well-being, keeping them more focused and alert.

“Safety continues to be our core brand value,” Mercedes-Benz’ head of vehicle safety, Professor Rodolfo Schöneburg stated.

“The great advantage of automating driving functions is that in the future, fewer accidents will be caused by driver error. However, fully-automated and driverless vehicles also come up against physical limits, and there will undoubtedly be mixed traffic consisting of automated and non-automated vehicles for many years.”

The ESF 2019 was developed over the last four years with a key focus of smoothing the way for safe mixed (autonomous and manned) traffic operations.

One feature aimed at connecting autonomous vehicles with other road users is a “cooperative communication” system.

This uses lights and graphical indicators to allow the ESF 2019 to make ‘eye contact’ with pedestrians when operating in autonomous mode. The vehicle uses turquoise indicator lights.

Mercedes-Benz has suggested the colour as a global standard to indicate when vehicles are operating driverless.

Child safety also takes a potential step forward with new safety seat features developed in conjunction with Britax Romer.

The seat uses standard ISOFIX anchors but is connected to the car’s operating system to check installation and adjustment. It adds a monitoring camera that can be accessed through the main infotainment system and use spring-based belt pretensioners networked with the car’s PRE-SAFE systems.

Of the innovations debuted in the ESF 2019, however, it is the safety concept car’s rear passenger airbags that are likely to be the first to appear in production car – almost certainly the next-generation S-Class due in 2020.

The design features inflatable tubes and a ‘body’ that is passively inflated (as the frame creates a void) and can therefore deploy around child seats and the like.

The ESF 2019 seven show how the scene of an accident or breakdowns could be secured more safely with innovations such as a small robot that automatically emerges from the vehicle’s rear following an incident and positions itself at the roadside as a warning triangle.

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