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Motor Trend is running a piece on the systems in the recently released Mercedes-Benz "Drive Pilot 95", https://www.motortrend.com/reviews/mercedes-benz-drive-pilot-95-first-drive-review [motortrend.com]

Here are a few of the details I found interesting:

By the end of this year, pending final certification from the authorities, German customers will be able to order an upgraded version called Drive Pilot 95, which, under certain operating conditions, will allow their S-Class and EQS models to self-drive for an indefinite period in the right lane of autobahns at speeds of up to 95 km/h (59 mph).[The earlier version from 2022 only worked in congested traffic up to 65 kph (40mph)]
[...]
Why has it taken so long to implement a software tweak? Well, both the German legislators and Mercedes-Benz, which assumes legal responsibility for the functioning of its vehicles while they are operating in Level 3 autonomous drive mode, are cautious. The Silicon Valley ‘move fast and break things’ approach doesn't work for them.
[...]
In addition to the parking sensors in the front and rear bumpers and the 360 degree cameras in the rear view mirrors that are fitted to many Mercedes-Benz models, Drive Pilot equipped cars have multi-mode radars at each corner, a front-facing long-range radar and a lidar unit behind the grille, a stereo camera at the top of the windshield, a regular camera facing rearward through the backlight, and a moisture sensor in the front wheel well.
The rear-facing camera is used to detect the flashing lights of emergency vehicles approaching from behind, though the ‘Hey Mercedes’ voice activation microphone in the cabin will pick up the sound of the sirens even if the vehicle cannot be seen. The moisture detector, which measures the sound level of the spray from the tire on wet roads, is used to determine whether rain and spray could interfere with the camera, radar and the lidar systems.
[...]
In simple terms, the key difference between the original Drive Pilot system and Drive Pilot 95 is the latter will now operate autonomously at Level 3 for an indefinite period if the Mercedes-Benz is in the right lane of the autobahn and is following traffic traveling at no more than 95km/h. Without that traffic, which can be up to 1000 feet ahead, the system will not activate.

This is where the trucks come in: The traffic on German autobahns that most consistently conforms to that pattern are the swarms of semis that are constantly crisscrossing the country. “The trucks are generally limited to 80km/h (50mph),” says Drive Pilot test engineer Jochen Haab,” but they usually travel at about 90km/h, and up to 95km/h on downhills.”
Drive Pilot 95 could operate without having to follow traffic, Haab says, but making that part of its operational design domain provides an additional safety redundancy: If there is traffic ahead, and it is moving, the car knows for certain the road ahead is clear without needing to process more data to double check.
A highly precise positioning antenna mounted in the roof enables the car to know, to within a fraction of an inch, exactly where it is in terms of its absolute position, its relative position, and its position correlated to carefully measured landmarks on an HD map built from data collected Mercedes-Benz engineers who drove every single mile of Germany’s 8,196-mile autobahn network in both directions and in every lane.

Still not a fan of Level 3 which requires the driver to be ready to accept a handoff--but this system gives the human 10 seconds to take control.

Many other interesting details in the link.

This seems to be the definitive answer to one of the original questions about self-driving:
"Mercedes-Benz, which assumes legal responsibility for the functioning of its vehicles while they are operating in Level 3 autonomous drive mode..."

Original Submission