The awesome Mercedes-Benz F 700 Research Car

Owing to constantly available hydraulic pressure, this active suspension is capable of stabilizing the body within a fraction of a second. Conventional spring elements and damping throttles take care of the higher-frequency vibrations and wheel damping. By combining them with the controls of the Active Body Control, their setup can be made especially comfortable and highest handling safety ensured.

Another comfort function is incorporated into the active suspension of the F 700: For particularly convenient entry and exit or for driving on very rough roads which call for more ground clearance, the actuators of the ABC suspension can raise the body by as much as 80 millimeters.

Laser sensors scan road

The PRE-SCAN function enhances the active suspension with a unique information channel: it permits adjusting the control strategy for uneven stretches lying ahead of the vehicle. For this project the Mercedes-Benz engineers again were inspired by nature. When uneven spots are detected, with PRE-SCAN the car computes the suitable control strategy in advance and adapts its systems to it.

The “eyes” of the active PRE-SCAN suspension are two LIDAR sensors. LIDAR stands for “Light Detection And Ranging” and describes a method for measuring distance which is very closely related to radar. The sensors send out pulsed laser beams in the infrared range, detect the reflected light and compute the distance based on the propagating time.

Uniquely intelligent suspension

The suspension operates using two sources of data: the laser sensors provide signals indicating the run of the road surface and the vehicle sensors add information about the current driving condition. From both sources the control unit computes the best strategy for overcoming an obstacle. As a result, in advance the vehicle can make the damping of the Active Body Control firmer or softer for each wheel, individually, and put load on or relieve load from the wheel by means of the active hydraulics.

Tires with very low rolling resistance and high potential for reducing CO2 emissions

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