Mercedes-Benz has given us our first look inside the cockpit of its new 2024 E-Class and, unsurprisingly, the sedan's dashboard is home to a massive array of displays. The new Superscreen, like the Hyperscreen that debuted previously on the EQS electric sedan, fuses multiple screens to a single curved glass panel that stretches the entire width of the dashboard. Bolstered by a powerful, new central processor and 5G data connectivity, the 2024 E-Class is also home to a new third-party app store, bringing a host of popular and familiar entertainment apps -- including TikTok, Angry Birds, Zoom Meetings and more -- to the dashboard.
Triple-display MBUX Superscreen dashboard
The biggest change for the 2024 model year is the newly available triple-display Mercedes-Benz User Experience (MBUX) Superscreen, a slightly scaled-down version of the MBUX Hyperscreen. Rather than integrating all three displays, the E-Class' digital instrument cluster remains discrete, protruding from the main glass slab like a tablet in a toaster and presenting the driver with either Sporty or Classic-themed gauges and driving information. The remaining screens, including the large central display and optional passenger display, are fused to the main Superscreen glass panel, which stretches and contours across the rest of the dashboard.
Mercedes hasn't released dimensions for the display, but I'd reckon the cluster and passenger screens are around 12.3 inches, with the center display likely being a touch smaller than the Hyperscreen's 17.7-inch main screen.
The Superscreen has a few new tricks up its sleeve, thanks to the inclusion of a selfie camera mounted at the top of the dashboard. The camera helps power a feature called "visual shield," which helps prevent the driver from being distracted by the passenger display. That third screen only activates when the E-Class detects that there's a soul in the passenger seat and uses dual light control display tech to reduce visibility from the driver's seat. The camera can also watch and detect how often and for how long the driver looks over at the passenger side, and can then dim the display further to obscure it from the driver's view.
TikTok, Zoom and Angry Birds
Passengers can then take advantage of new third-party apps available as part of an optional Entertainment package to enjoy video content and games, downloaded directly onto the E-Class' onboard storage. At launch, that'll include Angry Birds, TikTok and the Vivaldi web browser, as well as an entertainment portal powered by Zync that includes streaming video, sports, news, games and more. Mercedes says that more than 30 global streaming services are planned at launch with more integrations being negotiated for later inclusion.
Drivers can also take advantage of the new onboard apps on the center display when parked and can even use the dashboard camera to capture photos, record videos and participate in Webex or Zoom video calls and meetings. Audio-only calls and collaboration are supported while driving. And, of course, Android Auto and Apple CarPlay are still supported as standard for users who'd rather power their apps and maps with a phone.
First Hyperscreen, now Superscreen -- what's next? Gigascreen?!
Mercedes-BenzSurrounding the Superscreen is even more Active Ambient Lighting with a bright new multicolor LED strip stretching across the top of the instrument panels and flowing on to the doors, which joins the already extensive RGB illumination below the dashboard and in the footwells. The lighting now includes a Sound Visualization feature that analyzes audio fed into the Burmester 4D surround system to pulse and ebb with the beat. Along with the vibrating transducers in the front seat backrests and Dolby Atmos Spatial Audio, drivers will be able to see, hear and feel the music around them. (Hopefully this will be easy enough to disable.)
More usefully, the ambient lights can also help communicate driver assistance info. For example, localized color can help visually indicate parking distance or ambient lights can flash a warning when Active Brake Assist is triggered.
AI and user-generated Routines
With the Hyperscreen, Mercedes introduced its zero-layer paradigm and AI-learned Routines, where the car attempts to learn the driver's habits and present commonly used features on the home screen when relevant. For example, if you always navigate to your kids' soccer practice on Tuesday afternoons, the car can learn this Routine. The E-Class gains over 20 additional so-called "Magic Modules" that can be learned and presented on the zero-layer home screen, including birthday reminders, to-do list suggestions, energizing comfort modes and more.
Also new for the 2024 E-Class is the ability to manually create Routines of your own that are then triggered when conditions are met. Mercedes gives the examples of how an owner could use the template system to automatically activate the seat heaters and set the ambient lighting to warm orange when the temperature drops below a certain point or create a Date Night theme that sets the ambient lights to a dim rose-color and plays a romantic playlist via Bluetooth audio with single click. It's sort of like Apple's Shortcuts feature in MacOS and iOS, but for your Benz.
The E-Class' ambient lighting has been amped up and can now pulse and strobe to the music.
Mercedes-BenzMercedes's "Just Talk" voice recognition system can now activate and receive commands without the "Hey, Mercedes" hotword under certain conditions. When a red microphone icon is visible on the screen, just say "navigate me home" or "turn on seat heating" to set the sedan to the task. Users can also now string together multiple unrelated commands -- for example, "navigate me home and turn on the seat heating."
Finally, the automaker's Energizing Comfort and Energizing Coach health and wellness software is gaining integration with wearable tech. After connecting a compatible smartwatch, the vehicle will be able to recommend stress reduction programs or fatigue reducing settings and exercises based on biofeedback (heart rate, sleep data and more) transmitted from the device. The system might suggest a change to the seat back position to improve posture, adjust the ambient lighting to increase alertness or recommend Energizing Coach breathing exercises to destress. Steps and calories burned for the day collected by the device can be displayed on the central display.
The 2024 Mercedes-Benz E-Class is expected to begin arriving in US dealerships later this year, so I expect details about the sedan should begin pouring out over the next few months.