Uses of Front Facing Cameras

[Farmer boy]

To add to the mix this is my (mucky!) 2018 A205 cab, which has 360 camera, traffic sign recognition and collision prevention but not distronic.

Looks like the camera is on the left as on my car with two triangles. Like yourself I do not have distronic which uses two cameras. The twin triangles may be down to a shortage of single triangle screens or the over stocking of the twin triangle screens used for the £1,600 options pack that includes distronic which from my searches is a very rare option to find on used cars. Certainly all cars with all options bar distronic work well with one camera as my experience with both the E and C Class confirms.

 

[MilesWFB]

@MilesWFB That is weird!

Do you know if your car's headlights have Intelligent Light System? That could explain the stereo cameras. I too have stereo cameras on my W205 but I have Intelligent Light System, Distronic Plus with Steering Assist, so my menus look completely different from yours. I used to think that a single camera was standard, and a stereo camera came with Distronic Plus package, but now I'm not so sure, as there are threads on other forums which are similar to yours, i.e. stereo camera but not many options/advanced features specified.

However, when I read the Daimler press release (from October 2013) about the C class being launched in 2014, then it seems to imply that the stereo windscreen camera that you and I have is standard fitment!

"This includes a new Stereo Multi-Purpose Camera (SMPC) behind the front windscreen in the area of the rear-view mirror and hence at the level of the driver's eyes. Two camera eyes provide it with a three-dimensional view of the area up to around 50 metres in front of the vehicle, and it is able to monitor the overall situation ahead for a range of up to 500 metres and thus detect the position and movement of objects, especially of vehicles and pedestrians. "

Thanks for the reply, I don't have the ILS, The thing that confuses me is that some have no cameras so I'm not sure about the 2 cameras being standard... No other driving assistance features sadly.

 

[MilesWFB]

I have a S205 Premium Plus with ILS and 360degree cameras. Earlier this year I had a damaged screen replaced and the camera recalibrated, from memory I recall the glass fitter saying it has one camera fitted in the triangle shaped area on the screen. Both triangle areas are heated and ice melts from these areas.
The rectangular area between the triangle is the rain sensor. Last week I had the roof open and sprayed the rectangular area in the middle of the screen with Autoglym glass cleaner this made the roof close as the sensor detected the moisture. Gave me quite a shock as I had forgotten about this feature.
It seems that the camera picks up road signs and also is used for the ILS.
The 360 cameras are mounted at the base of the wing mirrors, in the front grille above the MB star and above the rear number plate.
From my understanding of distronic the system that varies cruise control speeds via information from front mounted radar that detects vehicles and obstacles and then adjusts the speed.
The collision prevention system and the self parking systems use ultrasonic sensors set into the bumpers to measure space around the car. Very heavy rain snow or dirt can stop these sensors working and may trigger a system inoperative message. From my reading these two systems do not use a camera.

I will have a look at the two triangle areas tomorrow to see if I really only have one camera. I suspect MB rationalised on the windscreen glass so they could fit a camera on either side depending upon which country the car was destined for.

As a side note I recently has a 2020 C Class which has traffic sign assist and the new generation of LED lights and it only had one camera triangle on the screen. The screen had a Mercedes signature and not Carl Benz as I my own cars screen.

Thanks that's super helpful, Could it be that these features were deactivated by the dealer at some point in time?

 

[MilesWFB]

Are you sure there are cameras in the triangular cutouts?
My 2019 C200 has two triangular cutouts but only one has a camera in.

I have a close look later.

 

[MilesWFB]

Looks like the camera is on the left as on my car with two triangles. Like yourself I do not have distronic which uses two cameras. The twin triangles may be down to a shortage of single triangle screens or the over stocking of the twin triangle screens used for the £1,600 options pack that includes distronic which from my searches is a very rare option to find on used cars. Certainly all cars with all options bar distronic work well with one camera as my experience with both the E and C Class confirms.

That could be a good idea, I'm going to the dealer in a week or 2 to fix some things and ill ask if they know anything about the shortage or why are 2 cutouts