Level‑3 Rollbacks Signal Commercial Fragility

Regulatory approval and technical capability do not guarantee sustained commercial availability: Mercedes’ decision to omit Drive Pilot from the revised S‑Class shows that consumer demand, margin pressure and per‑vehicle engineering cost can force automakers to retract advanced autonomy features. Policymakers and city planners should therefore treat deployed Level‑3 systems as economically fragile experiments rather than durable infrastructure. — This reframes AV governance: rules and safety standards are necessary but not sufficient — markets, cost structures, and consumer behaviour determine whether high‑risk automation becomes widely used or quietly withdrawn.