Mercedes-Benz is making a notable shift in its autonomous driving strategy, one that quietly ends its certified Level 3 system. The German automaker has confirmed that its upcoming S-Class facelift, scheduled to debut on January 29, will no longer offer its Drive Pilot system, which was highly touted as the world’s first production-approved “hands-off, eyes-off” driving technology. The same change is expected to carry over to the refreshed EQS later this year.
Drive Pilot was introduced in 2021 as a technological showcase for Mercedes. Available only on the S-Class and EQS in the United States, the system allowed drivers to take their eyes off the road and even use their phones when operating on certain highways. However, it was also only available on select freeways in California and parts of Nevada, and only under narrow conditions including good weather and the presence of a lead vehicle.
If anything changed, the driver had just ten seconds to take back control.
In theory, that made Mercedes the global leader in certified automated driving. In practice however, the system proved expensive, complex, and far more limited than many customers expected. According to German business publication Handelsblatt, Mercedes has now decided that the cost and demand do not justify continuing the technology in its next generation of vehicles.
Instead, Mercedes is pivoting toward a system that looks much closer to Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised). Both the S-Class and EQS will move to MB.Drive Assist Pro, a Level 2++ system that combines navigation with advanced driver assistance for door-to-door driving. It can steer, brake, accelerate, change lanes, handle intersections, and navigate city streets, but the driver must remain alert and ready to intervene at all times.
That also means liability shifts back to the driver, which is one of the key legal differences between Level 2 and Level 3.
This shift does not mean Mercedes has given up on full autonomy. The company continues to work with Nvidia on future Level 4 systems, including robotaxi deployments already underway in Abu Dhabi. Källenius has warned that the final step to true autonomy remains brutally difficult, explaining that while 99 percent of Level 4 is achievable today, “the real challenge lies in the final 1% — the ‘long tail’ of rare driving scenarios,” a sentiment recently echoed by Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
Mercedes and Nvidia still plan to deliver what they call “an exceptional Level 4 chauffeur experience” in the next-generation S-Class, expected between 2028 and 2030. Until then, Mercedes is betting that a highly capable, always-supervised system — much like Tesla’s — will provide customers with something far more useful than a tightly restricted Level 3 feature.
