The path of motoring innovation is often far from smooth and automotive history is littered with good ideas that have been introduced with great fanfare and greeted with indifference from the public only to be rediscovered years later as cutting edge technology.
The latest in this grand tradition was promoted once again this week at the Frankfurt motor show: nightvision. The German marque chose the 61st Frankfurt show to make a splash with its new S-Class as well as the European version of the R Class, the high performance ML63 AMG SUV and the near-production study, the Vision R 63 AMG.
But it was the S-Class which got most attention. Its night-view assist system uses infrared technology to probe beyond the reach of headlights and show the driver potential hazards beyond the normal viewing zone of a car at night. The display is shown on a screen on the binnacle, allowing the driver to see the road immediately ahead and also get advance warning of animals, people or cars further ahead.
BMW too has embraced the technology and offers a thermal imaging system as an option on its 7-Series cars, claiming that its system has a range of 984 feet.
These developments have been unveiled as cutting-edge systems but in fact the technology is at least seven years old and, when first mooted in the late 1990s, was received poorly by the buying public.
In 1998 in the US Cadillac said it would introduce a night-vision system on its Deville the following year. Trumpeting its origins in the defence forces, the company used a head-up display (HUD) similar to those used by air force pilots projected onto the windscreen, which would alert drivers to a hazard beyond normal view.
Developed by military vendor Raytheon, the system brought the cost down from $1 million plus to $1,500 as a Cadillac option but the public remained unconvinved, partly because the HUD used used a projector in the dash aimed at a half-mirrored section of the windscreen just below the main line of sight. Many found the ghostly image on the windscreen a distraction.
Mercedes persevered and is now bringing the technology to its S-Class as major innovation. It will be hoping that it doesn't suffer the same fate as Cadillac.