Since the reveal of the Cybercab, there seems to be a race for autonomous vehicle production. As a result, there have been quite a lot of autonomous news headlines, including an interesting one coming from Mercedes. The German car company is trying to solve a potential problem brought about by the increasing number of autonomous vehicles on public roads.
What is the Problem Mercedes is Trying to Solve?
With an increasing number of autonomous vehicles on the road, it has been quite difficult to properly identify one on the highway. Every now and then, a video pops up on the internet showing people sleeping off in the driver’s seat of vehicles on the highway. Sometimes, there is even no one in the driver’s seat at all. For someone driving behind such vehicles, it is difficult to identify if the car is driving itself or not.
Mercedes’ Proposed Solution to the Problem?
For some years now, Mercedes has been looking into ways of signalling other motorists if a car is driving itself or not. They have finally come with an easy and yet, rather witty way to do this. The German company has settled on fitting marker lights into the car’s front and rear lights, indicators, and exterior mirrors. These lights are intended to come on when a Mercedes is using the Drive Pilot Level 3 autonomous system. When Drive Pilot is engaged, the markers light up in a continuous fashion in the colour turquoise.
The choice of a turquoise colour, according to Mercedes, is backed by science. Consequently, Mercedes-Benz is now pushing for turquoise to be selected as the global colour of automated driving. According to Mercedes, there are three main things going in favour of this colour. The first has to do with the fact that turquoise is not used in any of the existing vehicle and traffic lights, thus eliminating the risk of motorists, pedestrians, and law enforcement officers confusing it for something else. Secondly, turquoise is pretty visible to the naked eye, no matter the exterior conditions. And, finally, the colour ‘performed better than other colours in both physiological and psychological factors’ tests.
Is the Turquoise Light Use Feasible?
So far, Mercedes-Benz has been testing its marker lights over in the US, more specifically in Nevada and California, since the end of 2023. Across the Atlantic in Europe, the Stuttgart Regional Council has recently granted Mercedes a special exemption to test the lights. In general, the German company will be allowed to continue testing its lights until at least 2028. The probability of the turquoise color becoming standard is quite high as it has already been included in some draft regulations, including SAE J3134, UNECE, and China Compulsory Certification.
All things considered, the use of turquoise lights to differentiate between autonomous vehicles and human-manned vehicles is a great idea. It is just a matter of time before this technology goes into full effect. What are your thoughts on the technology? And, what other colours do you think could substitute for turquoise?
