Mercedes Active Body Control To Go 'Magic' in Next Generation

[PHYBENZ]

Mercedes Active Body Control To Go 'Magic' in Next Generation

Just the Facts:

* Active Body Control v.2 tentatively named 'Magic Body Control' will be launched on new S-Class and on CL-Class for 2013, then across whole range.
* Magic Body Control — nicknamed 'Magic Carpet' — inspired by technology first used on Michael Schumacher's 1990-1991 Sauber Mercedes C11 Group C car.
* Full range of Magic options to launch first with Magic Sky Control on next-gen SLK for 2011.


CANNES, France — Mercedes-Benz cars will all benefit from a full new range of premium technologies marketed under the umbrella name "Magic."

Mercedes Vice President Hans Multhaupt told Inside Line that as revolutionary as Active Body Control (ABC) has been to the upper premium segments, the next big thing is a technology named Magic Body Control.

As Multhaupt tells it, "It had its first try back at the start of the 1990s with the Sauber Mercedes team of the World Sportscar Championship Group C and a young driver named Michael Schumacher." In 1990 and '91, the team's C11 sportscar slaughtered the field until a special technology they had developed was finally outlawed.

Magic Body Control will, through sophisticated hydraulics, manage two frequencies of movement — one at the wheels (between 15-20 Hz) and one at the body (5-8 Hz). These disparate frequencies are a constant challenge for dynamics engineers when it comes to damping NVH.

Magic Body Control technology has been developed jointly by Daimler and ZF, which produces the current ABC. According to Multhaupt, "Everyone is so far blown away by the effects of this Magic Carpet system."

On rough, undulating pavement and in curves, the MBC bushings — inserted between the strut towers and body — work hydraulically to manage the body's reactions. In the end they eliminate 80 percent of the vibration and harshness encountered at the wheels, according to Daimler experts.

In 2011 Daimler will roll out an important range of Magic features and options, starting with a Magic Sky Control sunroof available for the new SLK's folding hardtop. This magnetorheological glass system invented by an unnamed U.S. firm and produced by Hitachi, changes from near totally clear to dark blue. It can also be used for the side windows, rear window, and in the future, in the windshield to effectively eliminate the need for sun visors. The MSC roof glass also does not affect headroom.

Magic Body Control will follow Magic Sky Control in 2012 and 2013 at the S- and CL-class level, and these initial offerings will be followed by two other fresh technologies that Multhaupt refused to discuss.

Inside Line says: Given the feature wars waged by German manufacturers — with the Japanese hot on their heels — these high-tech comfort and convenience offerings from Mercedes comes as no surprise. — Matt Davis, Correspondent

 

[Merc1]

Best shot of the new CL yet. Mercedes is slowly coming back to their technology leader status.


M

 

[LaArtist]

Love to see them pioneer in comfort, this will be great.. Cant wait to try it..

PS
That SLK roof sounds kick ass

 

[Wolfgang]

Hydropneumatic suspensions without steel springs have some history at Mercedes, starting with the 6.9 (W116) in the 1970s, and also the 500/560SEL (W126) in the 1980s. Here's some background info:

Hydropneumatic suspension - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The original Mercedes-Benz system was also developed with Fichtel&Sachs, now part of ZF.

 

[bmer]

 

[Potential]

Magic. Really? Sounds like that ridiculous Apple dribble.

 

[tennmb]

Mercedes S550: $105k
S63: $130k
S65 $185k
Taking your magic carpet suspension to the shop after the warranty has expired?
Priceless.

 

[Yaz]

Ouch, tennmb.

I was day dreaming about how my wife and I will pretend to be Aladdin and Jasmine in our 2013 S600 .

But ain't that the truth?

 

[Mr. Mercedes]

Best shot of the new CL yet. Mercedes is slowly coming back to their technology leader status.


M

Yes it has been a slow few years for MB with the focus heavily on realiability and quality. Now that's under control, it's good to see all that R&D money MB splurges being put to good use again.

I would say that AUDI has lead in introducing new tech for the past 2 years?

The ride quality of the new S-class is going to be sublime.

I wonder what happened to that Bosch suspension technology that was making headlines 2 years ago and was going to appear on a 'premier luxury automobile'. We haven't heard anything since. The new 7 is out, the A8 out, so maybe the next generation LS?

 

[Shining Star]

From Car and Driver:

Driven: Mercedes-Benz Magic Body Control - Car News


This “magical” technology relies on a forward-scanning camera to anticipate road imperfections.

Suppliers and carmakers often invite us to tech days to show off their latest gadgets and gizmos. But while it's always great to speak with the engineers, the new technology often turns out to be little more than a gimmick or—even worse—yet another killjoy nanny system introduced to keep you “safe.”

So our expectations were not at an all-time high as we traveled to Stuttgart last week to drive the next iteration of Mercedes' Active Body Control (ABC) suspension. As we sat down with S-class project leader Hans Multhaupt and the company's super-brain, Prof. Bharat Balasubramanian—he’s the head of product innovations and process technologies at corporate research and advanced engineering (whew!)—the first surprise was the name of the system: "Magic Body Control.” What, not another ASSIST or something-TRONIC (capital letters Mercedes' own)? Nope, and this marks the beginning of a new nomenclature, where the brand's coolest high-tech options—defined, it says, as those with the most tangible customer benefit and the biggest wow factor—will use the "Magic" appellation from now on.

Mercedes' current ABC system uses a hydraulic piston to act on each steel coil spring to quickly and independently adjust the suspension on each wheel in reaction to the road surface, and it does a fine job keeping the ride smooth and occupants unjostled. But the key term there is “reaction”—the suspension deals with the bumps after the wheel has encountered them. What if the car knew what was coming in advance, with absolute certainty and down to every imperfection? The oil flow at each corner could be adjusted so accurately that any surface flaw could be practically neutralized.

That's exactly what Magic Body Control intends to do. A camera situated at the top of the windshield scans the road ahead, analyzing its flaws and blemishes, and feeds that data directly to the ABC system's control unit. The camera scans the area 15 to 45 feet in front of the car, and it can detect and measure imperfections as small as 0.4 to 0.8 inch. In doing so, the system knows exactly what the tires will encounter just fractions of a second into the future. The series-production use of a camera to gather road data is different from the laser-based approach used on the F700 concept, where the technology was called PRE-SCAN. The camera also feeds information to the Distronic cruise control. "We are putting a lot of effort into sensor fusion," says Balasubramanian. "It's a matter of programming the right algorithms."

Sounds Like Magic, but Does It Work?

Okay, so the system knows about the road surface, but how does it actually feel behind the wheel or from the passenger seat? Well, "magic" pretty accurately describes it. Drive a bumpy, lumpy road with the system turned off and then with Magic Body Control activated, and the difference is nearly unbelievable. We tested the system on truly nasty surfaces, and it ironed out the bumps to such an extent that we felt like we were essentially driving on a smooth road. On one run, we approached a visibly scarred road—the type where everyone in the car frantically searches for a handhold in anticipation—at a wildly excessive speed, and the suspension shrugged it off, keeping the body level and passenger compartment relatively serene. Wow factor, indeed.
What the system cannot do is iron out steep and very short bumps, such as roadside curbs, at least not to any extent beyond the regular ABC suspension. But the elimination of pretty much every other bump makes travel on highways and country roads so much more comfortable that it likely will give Mercedes a significant edge among luxury-minded consumers. We also were told that the technology was not created by a supplier and Mercedes will not offer it for sale or licensing. The brand, however, is considering offering the regular, non-magical ABC suspension to competitors.

Three years of work have gone into the new system, and it will be another three years or so before it becomes available to buyers in the next-generation S-class and CL-class. By then, Mercedes expects to shrink the components so that the system will take up far less space than on the prototype we drove, the trunk of which was stuffed with computers.

Would Magic Body Control appear in less pricey vehicles? Balasubramanian says that isn’t likely to happen any time soon, as those vehicles would need to already offer the base ABC suspension. Also, ABC is already some 30 pounds heavier than the S-class’s standard air suspension and packaging its bulky components in smaller vehicles would prove difficult. Mercedes was attempting to shrink the system as part of a development program inventively dubbed "ABC Compact," but that project was put on hold. We’d love to see what Magic Body Control could do if applied to a smaller, more sporting vehicle—improving at-the-limit stability over mid-corner bumps, for example—but a flagship has to reserve something for itself, right?

Mercedes-Benz News: Magic Body Control System Driven

 

[Gullwing]

Ouch, tennmb.

I was day dreaming about how my wife and I will pretend to be Aladdin and Jasmine in our 2013 S600 .

But ain't that the truth?

Tennmb is just saying it is not cheap to repair if something goes wrong once the warranty is up. The ride will be great, but the cost to keep it there after 4 years will not be so great for your wallet.

 

[Mr. Mercedes]

Really good news it's entirely in house technology and no one else will get their hands on it for a long time.

 

[Wolfgang]

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[coolraoul]

Mercedes S550: $105k
S63: $130k
S65 $185k
Taking your magic carpet suspension to the shop after the warranty has expired?
Priceless.

I hate this "Magic" naming, but the tech is absolutely amazing. Mind-blowing.

Tenmb, I don't get all the negativity. This system basically only adds a few computers and a camera to the existing ABC, which already proved, like the Airmatic, very reliable.

I, too, favour older cars because I'm not a fan of all that complicated new stuff, but you seem to like bashing Mercedes just for the sake of it, finding bad things to say even of their most awesome creations. Strange.


If I remember well, Citroën deposited a patent for the idea of a camera filming the road and informing the suspensions about it in the 1950's, but of course couldn't make any use of it by lack of the technology.

The W116 450SEL 6.9 and W126 560SEL , like some Rolls-Royce, had an hydropneumatic suspension that was either directly sourced (Rolls) or very similar to (Mercedes) the famous Citroën system.

Unlike the W100 600 which had a specific, all-pneumatic suspension.

It seems Citroën, once the undisputed leader in terms of suspension innovation and comfort, has lost its edge to mercedes, who now makes the best suspension on earth with the ABC and is about to further improve it...

 

[Dave1984]

What happened to the laser-based PRE-SCAN system introduced on F700 Concept? I hate it when Mercedes introduces a mind-blowing concept tech (remember that tri-turbo diesel engine, or the DiesOtto engine) which never makes it into production.

 

[coolraoul]

It's just the same, only that it seems not based any more on Laser-scanning but on seteo-camera scanning, which in the end doesn't change anything to the end result (it has to be for the better for them to swich the technology).

Testing must have proven the camera-based system to be superior to the laser one.

 

[fortuner]

The name sounds crap..But it seems the new S will ride even better that would be something hey..

Yeah that diesotto did sound amazing it would be brilliant if it was introduced maybe it wasnt reliable..

I think this magic suspension and pre scan seem simalar in some ways.

 

[Mr. Mercedes]

The name sounds crap..But it seems the new S will ride even better that would be something hey..

Yeah that diesotto did sound amazing it would be brilliant if it was introduced maybe it wasnt reliable..

I think this magic suspension and pre scan seem simalar in some ways.

As cool has stated, they're the same other than one relying on a laser to scan the road surface and another a camera. Mercedes would have it's reasons for the change. Pre-scan was after all a work in progress.

 

[NarutoRamen]

I know I'm late to the party, but that's a dumbass name. LOL

Also, I completely agree. The price to keep that ride is going to be MAD expensive.

 

[LaArtist]

who cares about names?
This will put the S class further ahead .. and to be honest the best luxury car you can have, even compared to Bentleys and RRs.. as they dont even get to sniff this kind of technology..