Controlling the wheels - a potted history

Basis for innovations

ABS served as the basis for the development of additional systems. Building upon ABS, acceleration skid control (ASR, start of large-scale production in 1981) was developed to control the interplay of the longitudinal forces between tires and road surface not only under braking but, for the first time, also under acceleration by acting upon both the brakes and the engine torque. This was followed by the automatic locking differential (ASD, 1985) and the innovative permanent four-wheel drive 4MATIC (1985). What all these systems have in common is the recording and limiting of wheel slip by means of advanced micro-electronics and hydraulics with the aim of improving the so-called longitudinal dynamics of a motor vehicle. The ABS signals are equally used by the Brake Assist (BAS, 1996), the revolutionary Electronic Stability Program (ESP, 1995) and the electrohydraulic Sensotronic Brake Control system (SBC, 2001).

On Mercedes-Benz passenger cars, the wheel sensor data is additionally processed by less conspicuous functions, for instance by the electronically controlled automatic transmission which adapts to the driver’s wishes, by the Auto Pilot System, the trip computer, the DISTRONIC autonomous intelligent cruise control, the engine and wind-shield wiper control systems and several other onboard systems with speed-dependent control.

Anti-lock braking system – a matter of course around the world today

Today, the anti-lock braking system is a matter-of-course item of equipment of virtually all vehicles from a large number of automotive brands throughout the world. We owe this to the untiring commitment of a large number of engineers and technicians at Daimler-Benz and its cooperation partners Bosch, Teldix and Wabco, who worked hard to find the best solution for this engineering feature which improves handling safety, contributes to avoiding accidents and even saves lives.

Heinz Leiber, former head of ABS development at Daimler-Benz and therefore known as the “Father of ABS”, has this to say: “Mercedes-Benz and its anti-lock braking system were also precursors in the development of digital electronics suitable for use in motor vehicles.”