In building what3words into its vehicle navigation systems, Mercedes-Benz has tackled an industry-wide problem – frustrating and inaccurate destination input using street addresses, particularly with voice. Mercedes thought outside traditional addressing and location systems, opting for a revolutionary solution – what3words. Drivers can now navigate to any 3m square on Earth by saying 3 words. Mercedes created the world’s first car with what3words, and has now rolled the technology out to over a million cars. It has reinforced its position as an innovative automotive leader, and leapt ahead of competitors by solving the problem of destination input for voice navigation.

In a recent JDPower survey of new car owners, difficult to use and inaccurate car navigation systems was the most frequently reported problem. Street addresses are a big part of this problem – they weren’t designed for navigation, especially not for voice. Addresses are often duplicated – there are 14 Church Roads in London, and they contain homophones like ‘Lawn Road’ and ‘Lorne Road’. Postcodes cover large areas and addresses can’t identify a specific entrance or parking spot. Many places drivers want to go – car parks, sports fields, beaches – have no address to enter into the navigation system.

Mercedes-Benz is devoted to providing a smooth and enjoyable experience for drivers and voice is essential to this goal. To provide a hassle-free voice navigation experience, Mercedes found a revolutionary new way to enter destinations – what3words. With what3words, every 3m square in the world has been given a unique combination of 3 words – a 3 word address. Mercedes is the world’s first carmaker to build what3words into a car navigation system. It’s drivers can now navigate easily to any precise location simply by saying the 3 word address. “Navigate to what3words filled count soap” for example, would direct the car to the entrance of what3words’ London office. What3words voice navigation can be used in English, German and Chinese with more languages coming soon. 3 word addresses are increasingly displayed on websites, in travel guides, on Airbnb and Tripadvisor listings around the world and are easy to share.

01/2018 Daimler announces investment in what3words

02/18 First demo car announced

02/2018 Launch of the new A-class with what3words voice navigation

04/18 Over-the-air update to existing models on NTG 5:5 infotainment system

04/2019 what3words and Mercedes-Benz announce joint launch in the Chinese market

for Shanghai Auto Show

3 word addresses have already been assigned to every 3m x 3m in the world in 36 languages, with more in development. Drivers can find the 3 word address for any location using the free what3words app for iOS or Android or the what3words online map. They can also find them in travel guides, Airbnb, Tripadvisor and other website listings or be given them by a friend or colleague they need to meet.

A 3 word address provides a human-friendly way of entering GPS coordinates into a car. When a 3 word address is spoken to a what3words-enabled Mercedes, what3words intelligent AutoSuggest returns the three top 3 word address results, optimised based on current location. This allows the driver to confirm the correct destination, and helps to prevent user mistakes. If the driver says ‘tables’ instead of ‘table’, the system will still return the correct result. Similar 3 word addresses are spaced far apart and each 3 word address is displayed with nearest place information to provide context and reassurance. The 3 word address is instantly converted to GPS coordinates which are used with the existing navigation system to direct the driver to the precise location.

The launch of the world’s first car with what3words voice navigation shook up the automotive industry and the partnership has generated 1272 pieces of press to date. what3words has been built into new car models including the new A-Class and the soon-to-launch electric EQC. It has also been pushed to over a million existing cars on the road via over-the-air update. Mercedes has demonstrated its commitment by investing in what3words – a 10% share, and it continues to innovate within the partnership, building Chinese what3words voice entry which launched at Shanghai Auto Show 2019. Mercedes-Benz is spreading awareness of the technology through social media advertising and dedicated landing pages, and Ola Källenius, CTO Daimler AG, has announced his intention to see what3words in all Mercedes-Benz cars by 2020. Tests have shown that what3words offers incredible accuracy (95%) vs street addresses (39%) when used with voice navigation in the Mercedes-Benz A-Class.