Mercedes S 500 Intelligent Drive can drive itself

It's not a science fiction.

Hubertus Troska, chairman and CEO of Daimler Greater China, rode onto the stage in Shanghai in the rear seat of a Mercedes-Benz S 500 Intelligent Drive - without a driver in the car.

Soon after it amazed the world at the Frankfurt Motor Show earlier this month, the technology made its Asia premiere along with the launch of all new S-Class on Saturday.

"With the S 500 Intelligent Drive, Mercedes-Benz became the first automaker to build and deploy a car capable of autonomous driving in multiple interurban and urban environments amid normal daily traffic," said Troska.

"As the inventor of the car we made a vehicle capable of moving under its own power. Now we have invented the car again by successfully employing technology developed by Mercedes-Benz to allow this car to navigate, without the assistance of a driver, a distance of over 100 kilometers along the same route on which Bertha Benz drove the first car all those years ago."

Nicholas Speeks, president and CEO of Beijing Mercedes-Benz Sales Service Co, said: "Partially automated driving is already available on the all-new Mercedes-Benz S-Class and even the new E-Class models with the support of Mercedes-Benz Intelligent Drive systems, which feature a number of new cutting-edge radar and camera based assistance systems".

For example, the new Distronic Plus is capable of autonomously steering the vehicle through traffic jams by helping the driver to maintain a desired distance from the vehicle in front, stay in the center of the lane, and even make gentle turns.

The Bas Plus brake assist and Pre-Safe Brake enable automatically braking of the vehicle if there is a risk of collision.

Hubertus Troska, chairman and CEO of Daimler Greater China, rode onto the stage in Shanghai in the rear seat of a Mercedes-Benz S 500 Intelligent Drive - without a driver in the car.