Mercedes Drive Pilot isn't as smart as Tesla Autopilot, and that's OK

With one eye on the road and another on a tiny green steering wheel icon emblazoned on the display in front of me, I watched as the all-new 2017 Mercedes-Benz E-Class drifted across the yellow lane marker. Just as the lefthand tires crested the line, the car proceeded to buzz the steering wheel to warn me, the driver, of an unsignaled lane departure. "Oh, don't give me that," I hollered at the car, as I grabbed the wheel and jerked the mid-size luxury sedan back into the lane. Now back in my lane with the Mercedes mostly keeping itself in check, my heart sank a bit. I felt disheartened because Mercedes' new suite of semi-autonomous safety tech, Drive Pilot, simply didn't feel as robust as Tesla's Autopilot that I had tested on the very same stretch of freeways some eight months before. During my test, the Model S was able not only able to stay planted within its lane, it also stayed almost perfectly centered in that lane.