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Several carmakers and silicon valley companies are working on
developing a self-driving car. Google tested its own prototype
vehicle in 2012, to which Daimler's luxury brand Mercedes-Benz
responded by developing an S-Class limousine which drove 103
kilometers without needing any driver input.
Rumors have swirled that rival Apple is also working on a car,
although the company has never confirmed this.
"Our impression was that these companies can do more and know
more than we had previously assumed. At the same time they have
more respect for our achievements than we thought," Zetsche told
the paper.
Zetsche and a handful of senior managers met with around 70
companies in Silicon Valley, the paper said, without naming
them.
"There were concrete talks. I will not say anything about the
content. It was not just about the fact that there is an
innovative spirit in the Valley. We know that already. We wanted
to see what drives it, and all the things that can be created
from it," Zetsche told the paper, explaining that they had also
looked at start-up firms.
Zetsche said he expects Mercedes-Benz to post significant growth
in the United States this year. Overall he sees the market for
passenger cars growing between 1 percent and 1.5 percent in
2016, Welt am Sonntag said.
Separately, Zetsche said that officials from Germany's vehicle
authority KBA had spent three days testing various Mercedes and
Smart models to see if their emissions violated emissions
standards.
"To my knowledge, no conspicuous emissions levels were found,"
Zetsche told the paper.
(Reporting by Edward Taylor; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)
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