Mercedes Car-to-X Communication warns of POTHOLES – perfect for UK roads

Mercedes Car-to-X Communication system now specifically identifies potholes and speed bumps, with a 10-second warning to react.

If there’s one thing that causes UK motorists more grief – and money – than anything else, it’s the rotten state of our roads, with potholes as big as sinkholes on roads across the country.

Not only are there potholes everywhere, but they often crop up in places you don’t see until the last minute, and even if you do spot them in time sod’s law dictates oncoming traffic will make them impossible to avoid.

But, if you drive a reasonably recent Mercedes – and subscribe to a Mercedes Me account and Car-to-X Communication – you can set it up to spot potholes and report them as a ‘Traffic Event’.

But Mercedes has now upgraded the offering, and in the latest C-Class, S-Class and electric EQS there’s now a specific warning for potholes and speed bumps, with a suspension control unit registering potholes and sending the information to the Mercedes Cloud for the benefit of all subscribers.

So, unless you’re the first Mercedes to encounter a specific pothole, you get icons on the infotainment map to show locations (all you’ll probably see in the UK is a sea of icons) with a 10-second warning before you hit the pothole of “Look out, pothole” or, if it’s a speed bump ahead, “Attention, speed bump”.

The sooner systems like this are mandatory for new cars in the UK, the better.