STUTTGART - Mercedes-Benz will soon take its electric car game into the large luxury sedan segment with its EQS, and unlike the German carmaker’s current EQA and EQC models, which are based on the corresponding combustion models, the EQS won’t just be an S-Class with batteries.
Mercedes says its upcoming flagship electric sedan will be the first to be based on the company’s new modular architecture that’s dedicated to high-end battery vehicles. Think of it as something akin to Tesla’s ‘skateboard’ platform rather than being an adaptation from an existing architecture.
Although the technical details remain a mystery, Mercedes has just revealed the interior of the EQS, and it’s being described as a “Digital Deep Dive Design” in which almost the entire dashboard is a giant screen. The concave screen stretches out in front of the occupants from the left to the right A-pillar and it was designed to resemble an ocean wave.
This cockpit also takes Artificial Intelligence to the next level. Depending on the equipment level specified, the car has up to 350 sensors of various types, which are used as “sensory organs” in all parts of the car. They measure distances, speeds and accelerations, lighting conditions, precipitation and temperatures, seat occupancy as well as the driver's eyelid movements or the passengers' language. This wealth of information is processed by control units that, controlled by algorithms, make decisions at lightning speed.
The system learns the habits of occupants over time, Mercedes says, and the MBUX system aims to proactively show the right functions for the user at the right time. The context-sensitive awareness is constantly optimised, both by changes in the surroundings and by user behaviour.
“With our EQS, we have created a completely new, future generation of luxury cars,” says Mercedes design head Gordon Wagener.
“Based on our style of sensual purity, we create desire by combining a beautifully seductive sculpture with the most progressive proportion. Key features such as the 'one-bow' design and a holistically integrated, highly reduced and seamless styling gives the EQS its sporty and progressive look. That's what sets it apart from any other vehicle we have ever created - that's what makes our EQS so extraordinary," Wagener added.
The EQS will be built alongside the S-Class at the company’s completely carbon neutral ‘Factory 56’ at the Sindelfingen plant in Germany.