Thanks to the optional Driving Assistance package, the new E-Class is taking the next step on the road to autonomous driving. Here you can find out about the highlights of the DRIVE PILOT and gain an insight into the future functions of the system. The E-Class is the world's first standard-production vehicle to be granted a test licence for autonomous driving in the state of Nevada in the USA where, for the first time and appropriately to coincide with the leading trade fair for entertainment electronics, the "CES" in Las Vegas, three E-Class models have been approved. Since the standard version is already comprehensively equipped with a host of intelligent technology, for test purposes only some slight software modifications need to be made to the DRIVE PILOT, which were implemented in the standard-fit Intelligent Drive Controller.

The Remote Parking Pilot allows the vehicle to be moved into and out of garages and parking spaces remotely using a smartphone app, enabling the occupants to get into and out of the car easily, even if space is very tight. The optional Parking Pilot can take the strain off the driver by helping them to search for a suitable parking space and making it easier to manoeuvre into and out of parking spaces with active steering intervention.

At the Mercedes-Benz plant in Sindelfingen, series production of the new E-Class has begun. Mercedes-Benz gathers the nine previous generations at the final assembly line of the world's most intelligent business saloon for the official production start with Markus Schäfer, Board Member Mercedes-Benz Cars, Production and Supply Chain Management. With more than 13 million saloons and estates sold, the E-Class is the highest selling vehicle in the history of Mercedes-Benz. The Mercedes-Benz plant in Sindelfingen is the competence center for the upper and luxury class in the Mercedes-Benz Cars global production network.

Mercedes-Benz is taking a big step into the future with the new E-Class celebrating its European debut in Geneva. The all-new E-Class is the most intelligent business saloon in the world. Numerous technical innovations enable comfortable and safe driving on a new level plus a new dimension in driver assistance. With the new Drive Pilot, Mercedes-Benz further advances on the way to autonomous driving. On motorways and country roads this system not only keeps a correct distance to the vehicles in front, for the first time it can also follow them at a speed of up to 210 km/h.

In the new Mercedes-Benz E-Class the optional high-resolution MULTIBEAM LED headlamps, each with 84 individually controlled high-performance LEDs, automatically illuminate the road with a hitherto unsurpassed, precision-controlled distribution of exceptionally bright light – without dazzling other road users. That's because this grid allows the light distribution of the left and right headlamps to be controlled separately and adapted to the changing situation on the road quickly and dynamically. All functions of the Intelligent Light System in low-beam and high-beam mode can furthermore be depicted purely digitally and without mechanical actuators for the first time, including, as a world first, a purely electronically implemented active light function.

We try the new Mercedes E-Class and see whether it lives up to its forebears on the innovation front.