Mercedes-Benz said on Monday it will introduce an advanced driver-assistance system in the United States later this year that allows vehicles to operate autonomously on city streets under driver supervision, expanding its software capabilities beyond highway driving.
The system, branded MB.DRIVE ASSIST PRO, enables a vehicle to drive from a parking area to a destination, navigating city intersections, making turns and responding to traffic lights. The move positions Mercedes-Benz as a direct competitor to Tesla, which currently offers the only comparable system for urban driving in the U.S. through its Full Self-Driving (FSD) software.
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Mercedes-Benz said MB.DRIVE ASSIST PRO has been available in China since late last year and will be priced at $3,950 for three years in the U.S. Customers will also be able to opt for monthly or annual subscriptions, with pricing details to be disclosed at a later date.
Tesla’s FSD package is priced at about $8,000 as a one-time purchase or $99 per month as a subscription.
Most automakers currently restrict advanced self-driving functions in consumer vehicles to highways, where traffic conditions are more predictable. Urban environments present greater challenges due to pedestrians, cyclists and complex, less structured traffic patterns. Tesla remains the only automaker offering supervised autonomous driving on city streets in the U.S.
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Like Tesla’s system, Mercedes-Benz said its city-driving assistance requires drivers to remain attentive and ready to take control at all times. The company said the system relies on around 30 sensors, including cameras, radar and ultrasonic sensors, with data processed by onboard computers capable of handling up to 508 trillion operations per second.
Mercedes’ push into urban driving assistance underscores how software development is gradually moving autonomous technology from limited testing toward broader commercial use, even as safety concerns and regulation continue to limit fully driverless operation in private vehicles.
Tesla chief executive Elon Musk has previously said the company would deploy autonomous vehicles capable of operating without human intervention, though such a rollout has yet to materialise. Instead, Tesla has focused on incremental improvements to FSD and recently launched a limited robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, using safety monitors.
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Mercedes-Benz said the new system supports over-the-air software updates, allowing functionality to improve over time. The automaker also said its upcoming CLA model, the first built on the MB.OS operating system, will feature driver-assistance functions powered by Nvidia’s DRIVE AV software and artificial intelligence computing infrastructure.