Mercedes approved to use turquoise lights in its autonomous cars

Mercedes will use turquoise-coloured lights in its self-driving cars when they go on the road in America.

Becoming the world’s first car maker to do so, Mercedes has gained permits for the use of turquoise-coloured ‘market lights’ in California and Nevada, allowing vehicles in both states to use these lights as a way of highlighting their self-driving nature to other road users.

The California permit applies to testing vehicles over a two-year period, while in Nevada it covers 2026 production-year vehicles and will remain ‘valid until a statutory modification is achieved with the state legislature.’

Markus Schäfer, member of the board of management of Mercedes-Benz Group AG, chief technology officer, development & purchasing, said: “With the development of automated driving marker lights, Mercedes-Benz is once again setting new industry standards. We are the first automaker in the world to receive such approvals in the U.S., specifically in California and Nevada. The more automated driving vehicles populate the road, the more important communication and interaction between the vehicle and the environment become.”

Mercedes says that both permits allow the brand to ‘gain important insights into the interaction of automated vehicles and other road users’ with the distinctive marker light colour introduced to help ‘substantially enhance’ public acceptance of automated driving.

The turquoise colour was selected as it provides ‘reliable and fast detection for other road users’ but is still easy to differentiate from other existing lighting colours, such as those on emergency service vehicles or within traffic lights.