New Mercedes S Class interior will be WATCHING your every move

Ahead of the reveal of the next generation Mercedes S Class, Mercedes reveals a taste of its interior and its second generation MUBX infotainment.

There’s a new Mercedes S Class on the way later in the year, but so eager are Mercedes to let you know which way they’re heading with their new range-topper that they want you to know just how cutting-edge the interior will be, and just how many screens and technology widgets it boasts.

Historically, the S Class is where mainstream stuff starts out before it dribbles down to ‘lesser’ motors, but in our brave new world of screens and Apps it’s more about playing catch-up with the trend of turning cars in to mobile computers for the new S Class.

So, sadly, Mercedes are going the ‘no buttons’ route – it’s cheaper, no doubt, and trendy – with their second-generation MBUX, with a huge 12.8″ touchscreen at the centre of the dash with 50 per cent more processing power at its disposal.

It controls pretty much everything, and unfortunately physical HVAC controls are there too, although they are always accessible at the bottom of the screen.

The ‘Hey Mercedes’ voice control is apparently more ‘natural’ and understands more of what you say, and you can control with a look or a gesture, but even just appearing to do something fires up the new MBUX brain.

Mercedes uses cameras pointing at occupants – yes, Big Brother is watching your every move – to work out what you’re doing and react. So, if you’re busty fiddling in the passenger footwell for the bottles of plonk that fell out of a bag, the system will switch lights on for you. And if you look over your shoulder it’ll lift the sun blind so you can see better. Sounds great if it works, but we have our doubts. And just as it is with stuff like Lane Heep, you’ll probably turn most of it off.

There’s also augmented reality HUD which projects images equivalent to a whopping great telly in front of you, shows arrows on the road to point where you’re going and does it all in 3D by tracking your eyes with yet another camera.

There are also up to three screens in the back (the S Class is a ‘Limo’, after all) making a total of up to five screens, and OLED tech and haptic feedbacks abound with individual profiles stored and available anywhere in the cabin (or in your ‘other’ Merc).