[niko001]

By turning it into a nearly-useless system. You can only engage Mercedes' system if a number of conditions are all met:

- The route has to have been pre-mapped by Mercedes

- Only works on highways

- Only in traffic jam-like conditions, i.e. traffic moving slower than 60 kmh (37 mph)

- No construction sites (even a single orange cone left over from prior road works will mean that you can't turn on the system / it will turn off)

Under these conditions, 10 seconds doesn't sound too difficult.

I still think that this is the "saner" approach than calling your product Autopilot and letting the general public beta test it (and driving in traffic jams is annoying so I wouldn't mind using the Merc system), but overall it feels mostly like a PR move to be able to say "we have a Level 3 product on the road". I read an article where Mercedes wanted to demonstrate the system to a journalist and they had to have a second car drive in front of them to artificially create a traffic jam because otherwise it wouldn't activate.

[thrill]

It's something more than a PR move if they received approval.