To improve visibility on the road, Mercedes-Benz has employed LEDs as brake lights in the S-Class. On braking, they light up 150 milliseconds faster than conventional bulbs and therefore make an important contribution towards avoiding collisions. The new car has 18 LEDs in its indicators which are arranged in the side mirrors so that their light can be seen from the side as well as from the front. Such new design features are made possible due to shallow mounting of the LEDs. Light emitting diodes are used in the speedometer to illuminate the scale section by section, and they are also employed as backlights in radios. But they afford more than simple design advantages - through their use of around 85 per cent less electricity LEDs markedly reduce the load on the car's electronics system. A further advantage the light-emitting diodes hold over normal bulbs is in their longevity - they last in excess of 10 years.

Modern fiber-optic data transmission technology is deployed in a network comprising audio, communications and navigation components, such as the car radio, CD player, sound system, fixed or mobile telephone and voice-activated controls. The "Domestic Digital Bus" relies on laser pulses and sensory receivers made from compound semiconductors to send and receive up to 850 data messages and to expedite 170 separate functions 60 times faster than systems in other cars. And all this activity is noticeable - this new transmission technology guarantees best-possible sound quality.

In the mobile phone and navigation system itself there are also compound semiconductors. The CD player uses lasers to read the plastic disc. And DISTRONIC, a newly developed automatic distance regulator, is likewise only made possible by the use of compound semiconductors.