Mercedes-Benz wants to achieve accident-free driving by 2050. Here's how

Mercedes-Benz has set itself an ambitious target to achieve zero accidents by 2050. Already know for its safe vehicles, the German carmaker has now undertaken a project called Vision Zero in its attempt to achieve zero accidents in coming years. The luxury carmaker has been conducting a research for more than 50 years on road accidents, based on which it will modify vehicle safety to make them safer. In recent years, the research has been expanded to include countries like China and India.

In its attempt to attain zero traffic fatalities by 2050, Mercedes has set itself smaller targets like reducing the number of traffic fatalities and serious injuries by half in next eight years compared to 2020. Head of Vehicle Safety at Mercedes-Benz Group AG Paul Dick said, “At Mercedes-Benz, we are pursuing our vision of accident-free driving. In other words: no more accidents involving a Mercedes vehicle. We are continuing to work toward this goal at full speed. Highly automated and autonomous driving will be a decisive contributor to its success."

Mercedes laid out its plans on how to achieve its target. Mercedes-Benz's Accident Research unit has scientifically analysed and reconstructed more than 5,000 real-world accidents since its foundation in 1969. The company wants to understand how accidents occur, how collisions affect car occupants and how they could have been prevented.

Mercedes plans to make use of the study besides making more active use of its autonomous driving systems, which are constantly developed to be more advanced. Mercedes thinks development of driving assistance systems, vehicles can completely eliminate human errors which mostly cause accidents. However, Mercedes also said that there will be crucial external factors like road infrastructure, which also needs to improve enough to help it achieve the target.

Even now, very advanced security systems can eliminate human errors. New generation vehicles that can brake automatically when facing obstacle or blind spot monitoring can potentially help prevent several accidents.

Safety became Mercedes-Benz's focal point after a Mercedes A-Class (W 168 series) rolled over in a moose test in 1997. This prompted the luxury carmaker to introduce the Electronic Stability Program (ESP) in all Mercedes-Benz models. Today, the ESP is standard equipment in all Mercedes-Benz passenger cars. In 2011, it also became a legal requirement for all new car registrations in Europe.