Mercedes-Benz Shows off New COMMAND® Online Features at the CeBIT Show

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. - March 22, 2013 - PRLog -- Soon, drivers shopping for a new vehicle at Mercedes-Benz of Hoffman Estates (http://www.mercedeshoffman.com/dealership/about.htm) will be able to get real-time traffic information relayed directly to their vehicles. At the CeBIT show, Mercedes-Benz recently unveiled this feature, along with other new technology, including a navigation system that can inform drivers of problems on the roadways ahead of time in order to adjust and plan a new route before getting caught in a traffic jam.

The technology that will enable drivers to practically see into the future to make commuting easier is part of the next generation of the COMMAND® system, and is called the Mercedes-Benz Live Traffic system. This innovative system will provide real-time traffic information from TomTom and its HD Traffic service. TomTom won the contract with Mercedes-Benz after many services were tested.

The communications infrastructure necessary to send real time information directly into vehicles is being developed by Deutsche Telekom. Mercedes-Benz vehicles (http://www.mercedeshoffman.com/new-inventory/index.htm) will have SIM chips, much like those in cell-phones, which will be able to handle mobile data transfers from automated sensors positioned strategically on roads. The system will be able to precisely show where traffic backups are happening in and dynamically adjust routing.

In order to improve the data for the system as a whole, the COMMAND® Live Traffic system will anonymously report its own traffic information periodically. Mercedes-Benz plans to offer these services in all vehicles made for sale in Europe by the end of the year. Customers in most of the European Union, including Germany, the UK, Italy, Belgium, Spain, France, Switzerland, Portugal, Denmark, and others, will be able to use the service free of charge for the first three years. There are no official plans to bring the new Mercedes-Benz Live Traffic features to the United States, but it’s likely that the German automaker is in talks with North American telecommunications companies to help develop the necessary infrastructure.
For now, interested customers can find out more about the COMMAND®-equipped Mercedes-Benz vehicles currently available at Mercedes-Benz of Hoffman Estates, located at 1000 West Golf Road in Hoffman Estates, IL (http://www.mercedeshoffman.com/dealership/directions.htm).