—This week German automaker Mercedes-
Benz put the world on alert to its latest ride control
technology in an entertainment-focused ad effort
starring chickens, not luxury sedans. The result is that
many bloggers are talking a lot about the chickens. The
ad promoting the new 2014 S-class cars breaks the
auto industry advertising mold, in a move to a viral ad-
inducing stare at an animal curiosity. In this instance,
the chickens are intended as metaphor for the feature
called Magic Ride Control. This involves a stabilized
ride that has been compared to a magic carpet ride.
The ad, though, had no signs of royal carriages on
wheels racing on empty highways or pulling up to
opera houses.
Instead the ad showed elegant white-gloved hands
moving live chickens around in disco moves set to a
Diana Ross song. Their bodies were made to move
about in all directions while their heads (naturally)
remained immobile. Reports on the ad this week were
sure to detail the reason the chicken's head does not
move while the body does, and that is due to the
vestibulo-ocular reflex, allowing chickens to keep their
skulls stationary, a novel curiosity to the human
observer, even as their bodies are lifted and moved
around.
The chicken viewing experience is supposed to be a
metaphor for the wonders of a technology
achievement in a suspension system that promises
the driver will experience stability at all times. The
wheels take the bumps and contours of the road while
the driver and the chassis stay stable.
According to the company, Magic Body Control
combines the advantages of the active suspension
system Active Body Control (ABC) with the Road
Surface Scan function– a stereo camera that scans
the road ahead and registers the road surface and its
condition.
The system works through sensors, magnetic dampers,
and the pair of cameras, located at the top of the
windshield, which go to work to scan the road for any
imperfections. They locate lumps and bumps and send
that data to the suspension system to make sure that
people have the best possible ride.
Suspension undergoes adjustments hundreds of times
per second to soak up the bumps and potholes.
According to reports, the cameras can scan a road's
surface 49 feet ahead in real time while moving along,
to assess surface conditions.
"The unique aspect of our suspension system is that
we now use stereo cameras to scan the road surface in
real time, up to fifteen meters ahead of the vehicle,"
according to the Mercedes spokesman in another
promotional video that does not feature any animals.
"The function is known as the road surface scan," he
said. "The stereo cameras measure the height of
obstacles with a precision of three millimeters or
better and at speeds of up to a hundred kilometers per
hour."
He said the whole idea behind Magic Body Control is
to allow drivers to experience "as little of the road
surface as they want. This means you glide over the
road surface as if you were on a magic carpet. "
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