“6D Vision” Feature on New Mercedes-Benz S-Class Awarded the Karl Heinz Beckurts Prize
Ryan Joseph Ramos November 22, 2012
6D Vision, a new feature that’s set to debut on the upcoming Mercedes-Benz S-Class, has just been given the Karl Heinz Beckurts Prize, which is given to scientific and technical achievements that are deemed to be driving forces in Germany when it comes to innovation.. Specifically, the award will go to the men in Daimler’s research team who developed this safety innovation: Dr. Uwe Franke, Dr. Stefan Gehrig, and Dr. Clemens Rabe.
With the 6D Vision system that’s part of the Intelligent Drive program, road safety is enhanced because the technology can easily identify the various traffic environments as well as the hazards within them, thereby considerably helping reduce the occurrence of accidents.
“In future, all our fully networked and intelligent driver assistance systems will come under the name of Mercedes-Benz Intelligent Drive,” said Daimler BoardMember for Management and also part of the Group Research and Mercedes-Benz Cars Development, Professor Thomas Weber. “Since ‘6D Vision’ can make a significant contribution towards reducing traffic accidents, we intend to make the technology accessible to other manufacturers.
“This means that there will continue to be a little piece of Mercedes-Benz in every car.”
The technology figures to be a key part of navigating through complex traffic environments, especially those wherein the driver’s visibility is limited, like in intersections. 6D Vision can pinpoint hazards and other factors easily and quickly. It can even identify moving targets like other vehicles in a short span of time and calculate the movement and trajectories of these objects, allowing the vehicle’s other safety systems to kick in and prevent any accident.
The 6D Vision system was also nominated for the German Future Prize in 2011.
