It all started with the Mercedes-Benz S-Class Intelligent Drive starting the journey of Bertha Benz, from Mannheim to Pforzheim, of approximately 100 kilometers, exactly 130 years after the wife of Carl Benz had done the same. The other road participants took little notice of the S-Class, as it look like a regular vehicle. But what made it so special was the technology it was equipped with.
The Mercedes-Benz S-Class Intelligent drive carried out the journey in a full autonomous way. Fitted with cameras, a radar system and sensors, a batch of computer power, the sedan covered the legendary route to prove its autonomous capability, marking a development in self-driving.
This technology has just got the Reinhard von Koening Prize for technological progress, a 20,000-euro worth award, for the endeavour of Daimler engineer Thao Dang and of the former project partner, an employee of the Research Center for Information Technology at the Karlsruhe Institute for Tehnology, Julius Ziegler.
It was a high-caliber Wurrtemburg jury who designated the Daimler team as a winner for outstanding technological innovations, addressing relevant challenges faced by society. The prize is named in the memory of the last resident of Schloss, Baron Reihnard von Koening-Fachsenfled, famous for his motor racing achievements and for the development of the Mercedes SSKL.
