Ah, the question does come up-do human beings, especially those who've circled the sun enough times to amass the wealth required to acquire an S-class, really have the excess mental processing capacity to manage steering, acceleration, braking, and Web surfing tasks simultaneously? Perhaps not, but never fear-Distronic intelligent cruise control offers to temporarily relieve his or her highness of the tiresome tasks of accelerating and braking to keep pace with the ebb and flow of rush-hour freeway traffic, for just $2800 plus tax.
Expect many upgradable Web-related features to be added throughout the useful life of a new 2001 Mercedes, but for now all data transmission comes across at the protracted pace of 9600 bits per second.įile attachments and photos are therefore out of the question (eliminating a whole category of naughty driver distractions). Big to wait until the car is parked to read the text, but it can be displayed on the fly. Text can then be downloaded and displayed on the screen at the touch of the "SVC" button in the COMAND cluster.Ĭalendar reminders are also available for the harried exec on a tight schedule. CNN Interactive beams the Web content to the car for an annual fee of $125, plus air time.Ĭustomers can have their own personal Web page on the site, and it can be personalized to track stocks of interest, news topics, sports, weather, etc. But Mercedes was first to market with an "Internet on wheels" telematics system, available for 2001 on all models equipped with a COMAND navigation system (standard on S- and CL-classes, a $2035 option on C-, CLK-, and E-class cars). Like all 2001 Mercedes-Benzes, the S-class comes standard with a Tele Aid cell-phone link to keep the driver in touch with the factory or emergency services. For the hands-on plutocrat who refuses to be driven, there is no better self-propelled, land-bound way to get somewhere quickly while simultaneously keeping tabs on a corporate empire. Behold the poster child for vehicular multitasking: Mercedes-Benz's flagship sedan, the S600. Keep drivers busy enough, and maybe they won't shoot one another.
Road rage is a reaction to these pressures, and now multitasking is being proffered as a solution. And the net worth of every millisecond of "free time" will continue to skyrocket as our workdays lengthen, as urban sprawl extends commuting distances, and as traffic density chokes the existing road system. It is said that the most precious commodity among the upper echelon of America's working class these days-more valuable than diamonds, Berkshire Hathaway shares, or even a full head of natural-looking hair-is time.
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