Mercedes-Benz unveils new car with gesture response system

Mercedes-Benz has introduced the CLA Coupé at the CES fair. This sporty five-door coupé is equipped with a system that recognizes the gestures of the occupants. This system will appear in more models and builds on the infotainment system introduced last year.

Mercedes reports that the system, called Mbux Interior Assist, can respond to gestures of occupants, without having to touch a touchscreen. An occupant only needs to position their hand near the touchscreen in the dashboard or the touchpad in the center console. The system can distinguish between the driver and the front passenger.

This allows, for example, the playback of media to be monitored, both during the day in sunlight and in the dark. The aim is to allow all kinds of functions to be operated intuitively. For example, the reading light can be switched on by just moving one hand briefly to the rear-view mirror. In the dark, if the driver extends his arm over the empty passenger seat next to him, it is illuminated. If the driver or co-driver makes a v-shape with their index and middle fingers, a personal favorite function is activated, such as the command to navigate to the home address.

The manufacturer says that the Mbux system has also been further improved apart from the gesture support, so that it recognizes many more voice commands. For example, according to Mercedes, drivers can now calmly and effortlessly tell them that they are hot, after which the system turns on the air conditioning. The system would also be able to perform complex tasks, such as finding an Asian restaurant in Las Vegas that is rated at least four stars and does not serve sushi. The system then displays several restaurant options on the dashboard screen to choose from.

Mbux Interior Assist is an improvement of the infotainment system called Mbux introduced at the CES fair last year. This system works with speech recognition and can be activated with the call ‘Hey Mercedes’, after which users can give direct and indirect commands. According to the manufacturer, this system has now been further improved, so that after the ‘Hey Mercedes’ command, the system only responds to the person who gave that ‘hey’ command.

For the American market, the manufacturer also introduced the EQC, a fully electrically powered SUV. By 2022, Mercedes wants to have released ten other fully electric-powered models.