To L3 or not to L3: car makers divided over next autonomy steps

The risk/reward equation doesn’t add up even for some luxury brands. Bentley is passing on level three, former CEO Adrian Hallmark told journalists earlier this year. “We think level three is dangerous from all the testing analysis that we've done. It relies too much on recovery of attention and intervention from the driver,” he said.

Bentley will instead focus on what it calls “level-two-plus-plus” semi-autonomous technology for its upcoming electric car, the launch of which has been delayed to late 2026, Hallmark said.

BMW and Mercedes are certainly playing it cautiously when it comes to rolling out the technology, which also limits its usefulness to the driver. BMW’s Personal Pilot L3, available on the new 7 Series for example, monitors the driver to check they’re staying awake, even while reading emails. It won’t work at temperatures below 3deg C, in the rain, low sunshine or in roadworks. The maximum speed is 37mph (60kph), after which a series of warning signs demand the driver takes over again.

Unlike Mercedes' Drive Pilot, though, BMW’s system will work at night and in tunnels thanks to the abilities of its Innoviz front-facing lidar sensor, which is said to perform better than Mercedes’ Valeo system.

The belt-and-braces approach taken by Mercedes isn’t mandated by UN regulations governing so-called automated lane keeping systems (ALKS) but was the result of an abundance of caution, Mercedes head of engineering Christoph Starzynski told journalists at the recent Beijing motor show.

Mercedes will increase the maximum speed of its Drive Pilot system to 90kph (56mph) in Germany by the end of the year, Starzynski said. But as of right now, it remains too expensive for anything but the S-Class and EQS. 

The system – an option costing from €5950 (£5070) in Germany – requires a suite of sensors as well as the additional cost of the HD maps. “There is a big jump from level two to level three when it comes to technology, liability – everything. You’re talking about a completely different animal,” he said.

So far, even though level-three ALKS is allowed in the UK, no car manufacturer has homologated a model for use here.

You’d imagine the jump to a million sales in 2026 might be driven by Tesla, given the US company already offers a product called Full Self Driving (latterly with the addition of ‘Supervised’ to recognise that it’s actually level two-plus). 

However, given Tesla is attempting to move to full autonomy with just cameras, that’s a tall order. “Tesla has a big advantage in terms of mileage, but excluding lidar sets the bar higher and increases risks significantly, regardless of how much training data there is,” said Counterpoint research analyst Mohit Sharma.

Instead, the research company believes China will account for the biggest growth in level-three offerings. Right now, the country is the global hotspot in the battle for level-two-plus supervised autonomy, with a growing number of players promising the car will steer itself from address to address with the driver monitoring at all times. 

There, a slew of ‘smart’ EV brands – including Xpeng, Nio, Avatr and Jiyue (Geely and Baidu’s joint venture) – offer products that claim to be China’s version of Tesla’s Full Self Driving. 

But the new goal for most brands in China is to offer their beleaguered, traffic-choked customers level-three autonomy. China currently doesn’t allow level three but has issued level three testing licences to a range of brands including Lotus, BMW, SAIC’s IM, Arcfox, Avatr, Deepal Mercedes, Li Auto and BYD. 

Once the Chinese authorities are satisfied the systems are safe enough, level-three-capable cars will account for 10% of all cars sold there by 2028, Counterpoint believes. VW might be bearish on level three in Europe, but not in China. “China is a different story,” Schaefer said. “Because of the regulations there, you can go further and faster.”

China’s speed of level three development could be replicated in Europe, despite the need for different mapping, driving policies and software. Geely-owned premium brand Zeekr could offer level three in Europe by the end of next year in its 001 and X models, head of Zeekr Technology Europe, Giovanni Lanfranchi, told Autocar. Zeekr has officially distanced itself from those claims, but it’s clear that Chinese companies see autonomy as a key differentiator as they look to gain a toehold in Europe.