Mercedes-Benz Shows Off It’s New “Valet” Feature In The New 2021 S-Class
Every now and then, when you’ll hit up your favorite restaurant in town and sometimes parking across the street is just a little too inconvenient at the moment. No worries though, because the valet servicemen/women have your back, or do they? We’d like to believe that the valet will do exactly what you’d expect them to do, and that’s to simply park your car without leaving any dents or…with that laptop in the hidden storage area. Luxury automaker Mercedes-Benz recently played on the common fears that patrons might have in their commercial titled “Valet Guys” for their new S-Class model.
The video clip below is shot like a classic 1980’s movie that you’ve never heard of. It focuses on three mischievous valet men: Freddy, Rusty, and Ace. We follow the trio through all of their shenanigans such as doing donuts in the parking lot, driving blindfolded, sleeping/”meditating” with bare feet on the dashboard, among many other offenses. At some point, the speaker interrupts the short film to announce to the horrified viewer that these times may soon be over, thanks to the new technology in the flagship S-Class.
The video then shows an S-Class owner driving past the seedy valets, clearly not interested in their “service”, in which she then instructs the car using her smartphone to activate the Intelligent Park Pilot system. We see how the car will have the ability to park itself, essentially acting as its own valet.
As entertaining and clever as that commercial is, it does allude to the fact that this feature isn’t technically available yet, stating “This parking function will be available for use on public roads as soon as regulations and infrastructure allow.” Simply put, the hardware itself is fixed into the 2021 S-Class, but the company is waiting for the license to be able to use it.
When Mercedes-Benz does get the green light for their Automated Valet Parking, it will allow owners to leave their vehicle as they reach the designated parking structure, instruct their car to park, and it will use its autonomous capabilities to drive itself to a selected parking spot. In the same way that the owner instructed his or her car to park, the car can also be instructed to meet its master at the entrance.
Even though Tesla currently sports a comparable “Smart Summon”, the German automaker outranks its rival with one key element, its connection to the infrastructure nearby. Basically, rather than using its onboard sensors to “feel” its way to the owner (like Tesla), the S-Class uses that same technology for location positioning in a lot that has the compatibility with the car’s technology. What this means is that S-Class actually knows its way around the garage.
In terms of exactly where this garage is, there’s a pretty good chance that there isn’t one nearby. Really the only one available is the lot in Stuttgart that Mercedes-Benz is using for testing. At the current moment, there’s not a clear indication as to when we should expect to see garages compatible with the new S-Class system, but one thing that is sure, it’s a significant improvement from both the company and the automotive industry.
In the meantime, the 2021 S-Class still has plenty of fun features to work with such as a panoramic sunroof, a leather-upholstered interior, a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster, a 12.8-inch central OLED touchscreen, a fingerprint biometric system, and massaging multi-contour seats.
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