What happened
Euro NCAP, the European car safety testing program, published its first gradings of highway assistants on 1 October 2020. It tested ten cars on test tracks, among them a Mercedes-Benz GLE built from June 2020. Its Active Distance Assist DISTRONIC with Active Steering Assist combines adaptive cruise control with steering assistance. The GLE scored 85% for assistance competence and 89% for safety backup, and Euro NCAP graded it Very Good. The system kept assisting while the driver steered around an obstacle. For an unresponsive driver, the car made a controlled stop in its lane. Euro NCAP noted that the car checked only the driver's hands on the wheel and had no camera watching the driver. ADAC, the German motoring club, reported the results and updated its report after a second series of seven cars in 2021. It found that the GLE still offered the most mature system of all 17 cars. The tests ran on tracks, so no crash outcome on public roads is reported.
Sources
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Assessment report, by authors with no tie to the system.
ADAC (Wolfgang Rudschies, with technical advice from Andreas Rigling of the ADAC Technik Zentrum Landsberg). Euro-NCAP-Test: Wie gut sind Autobahnassistenten? First published 1 October 2020, updated 7 December 2021. Section Darum gewinnt Mercedes - und nicht Tesla. ADAC reports Euro NCAP's highway assist tests of 2020 and 2021.
Von allen Modellen schneidet der Mercedes GLE am besten ab, der nach wie vor das ausgereifteste System bietet und dem Ideal der kooperativen Assistenz am nächsten kommt.
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Assessment report, by authors with no tie to the system.
Euro NCAP. Euro NCAP Launches Assisted Driving Grading. Press release, Leuven, 1 October 2020.
Three cars in the premium segment - the Mercedes-Benz GLE, the BMW 3 Series and the Audi Q8 – are graded ‘Very Good’, achieving a good balance between offering a high level of driving assistance but keeping the driver engaged and in control of the driving task.
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Assessment report, by authors with no tie to the system.
The Mercedes GLE excels in the level of Vehicle Assistance with a similar level of Driver Engagement resulting in a high-performing, balanced system.
Details
AI system
- Workflow
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Mercedes combines map-based speed limit information with real-time camera inputs. The system adapts speed for curves and junctions ahead. It keeps assisting while the driver steers around an obstacle.
Follow-up
- Conditions for replication
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The driver stays alert and keeps full control of the car at all times. The car checks only that the driver's hands are on the wheel.
Entry details
- Sector
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Road vehicle crash avoidance / assisted driving.
- Purpose
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Mercedes-Benz built Active Distance Assist DISTRONIC with Active Steering Assist to help the driver keep speed, distance and lane on highways.
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Cite this record
Peter H. Vartanian. (2026). DISTRONIC on the Mercedes-Benz GLE tops Euro NCAP's highway tests (AIBD-0948). Artificial Intelligence Benefits Database, edition of 1 November 2026. https://petervartanian.xyz/aibd/records/AIBD-0948.html (archived at https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/AADSII, version 7.0)