Mercedes-Benz is the first automaker to gain approval to sell a Level 3 automated driving system in the United States; the first customer-owned S-Class and EQS sedans in California and Nevada equipped with the Drive Pilot system hit dealer lots this month. Drive Pilot allows you to take your hands of the wheel and eyes off the road in traffic jam situations up to 40 mph, so you can read a book, watch a movie on the Hyperscreen, more easily talk to your passengers or even use your cellphone, depending on local laws.
All of that is totally legal, but how will other motorists or law enforcement know that you have the Level 3 system active and are not just plain distracted driving?To fix that problem, Mercedes has gotten permit approval for turquoise-colored exterior marker lights when Drive Pilot is in use, declaring to the people around you that you’re using automated driving.
The turquoise color for Level 3 driving was chosen by SAE, so other brands beyond just Mercedes will use it for their own cars. In addition to being illuminated in the headlights and taillights, the turquoise is used in the mirror lights, the steering wheel buttons and the gauge cluster, with the color being recognizable for the driver too.
With these turquoise lights, Mercedes and SAE hope to improve both road safety and public acceptance for automated driving — if you see the teal lights, you know the car is using automated driving, so it’s less likely for other motorists to be shocked and concerned when they see the occupants looking away from the road, plus emergency services have a better understanding of what to do if medical assistance is needed. It will also be super helpful for law enforcement, so cops hopefully won’t pull you over for watching TikToks on your infotainment screen when it’s perfectly allowed by law.
In California the turquoise lights will only be allowed for testing purposes for now, with the Golden State’s exemption permit initially limited to a two-year timespan. In Nevada the lights will be allowed on production cars starting with the 2026 model year; this permit will be active until legislation changes happen.
Because every state in the U.S. has its own laws and regulations, Mercedes’ Drive Pilot rollout in general could be pretty slow at first. California and Nevada are the only states where you can order and use a car with Drive Pilot, with no word from Mercedes or SAE on what other states will allow it and when. But Drive Pilot has been available since 2022 in all of Germany, with Mercedes not reporting a single incident involving the system in use. Other companies like BMW are working on Level 3 systems for the U.S., with no concrete rollout details yet.
Regardless of the potentially slow implementation in the U.S., the more countries and companies that start using the turquoise light standard the better. We may still be decades off from true self-driving cars, but Level 3 systems are here now, and rapidly introducing more safety features like this will be a benefit for customers and other motorists alike.
