The awesome Mercedes-Benz F 700 Research Car

Conventional menu items have been furnished for selecting simple functions. For more complex inputs there is an innovative assist function: the individual input assistant in the shape of a virtual person called an avatar in computerese. Avatars, as electronic images representing real persons, are familiar from the internet world or computer games.

Chatting with your assistant

The avatar in the control system of the F 700 takes the shape of a young woman, but depending on country and culture other assistants also can be realized. The virtual person enters into contact with the driver through a voice dialogue. In the menu item navigation, for example, it asks for the desired destination. The driver states the town and street, or simply a name from the system address book. The avatar confirms the input and the route is computed. Selecting someone to talk to from the phone book or a desired radio station functions in a similar way.

The coupling of voice recognition with the dialogue system and individual menu items has big advantages: Since the virtual assistant unambiguously polls the required information, the driver does not need to remember specific voice commands. Conversely, voice recognition works more reliably since the system knows the context of the words being spoken.

The scope of assistance functions later can be enlarged almost without limit. For instance, the avatar as virtual assistant could access online databases from the vehicle via internet link and, let us say, get the addresses and phone numbers that go with certain names, could update the driver’s appointments book, or could read aloud important e-mails. Operation by voice dialogue minimizes distraction, for it goes without saying that driving safety always has priority for Mercedes-Benz.

The control recognizes the user

Climate-related well-being is an essential element of the sense of comfort aboard an automobile. An unobtrusively regulated, draft-free automatic climate control is thus an obvious equipment feature. The unit is operated by a separate rotary/ pushbutton controller on the center console.

Here again simplicity is the overriding principle: the control therefore automatically recognizes whether it is being used by the driver or front passenger and, accordingly, activates the climate control for the left or the right side. The SERVO-HMI display immediately shows, as first level, the activated temperature for the side of the vehicle concerned; the detailed settings are made through a menu level. Here, too, the user prompt from the current S-Class was developed further.

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