Technology may soon render another skill superfluous: parking a car.
Sensors and software promise to free owners from parking angst, turning vehicles into robotic chauffeurs, dropping off drivers and then parking themselves, no human intervention required.
BMW demonstrated such technical prowess this month with a specially equipped BMW i3 at the International CES event. At a multilevel garage of the SLS Las Vegas hotel, a BMW engineer spoke into a Samsung Gear S smartwatch.
“BMW, go park yourself,” and off the electric vehicle scurried to an empty parking spot, turning and backing itself perfectly into the open space. To retrieve the car, a tap on the watch and another command, “BMW, pick me up,” returned the car to the engineer.
The i3 was equipped with laser scanners, including two mounted in the front right and left quarter panels. No G.P.S. was used. Instead, the car relied on a map of the parking garage and an onboard cellular data connection. No smartphone was needed. The Samsung watch includes its own cellular connection, so commands are sent to a BMW server, which then relays the instructions to the car, said Yves Pilat, one of BMW’s engineers developing the feature. BMW calls it fully automated remote valet parking.
Several other companies have demonstrated similar self-parking cars, including Toyota, Valeo and Volkswagen. In many ways, the development is an extension of existing parallel parking assist technologies. In such systems, the driver remains behind the wheel, but with a push of a button, the vehicle measures the parking space and then swings backs into it without any input from the human operator.
“Now, the concept is you can do any kind of parking spot,” Mr. Pilat said, and without a driver.
Aside from preventing Ferris Bueller-like joy rides by garage attendants, the advantage of introducing autonomous car features to handle parking has several benefits, foremost being to win over skeptical consumers.
Parallel parking was “the first step in getting drivers to understand that there are some tasks the car might be able to do better than you,” said John Hanson, Toyota Motor Sales USA’s national manager for advanced technology and business communication.
Sensors and software promise to free owners from parking angst, turning vehicles into robotic chauffeurs, dropping off drivers and then parking themselves, no human intervention required.
BMW demonstrated such technical prowess this month with a specially equipped BMW i3 at the International CES event. At a multilevel garage of the SLS Las Vegas hotel, a BMW engineer spoke into a Samsung Gear S smartwatch.“BMW, go park yourself,” and off the electric vehicle scurried to an empty parking spot, turning and backing itself perfectly into the open space. To retrieve the car, a tap on the watch and another command, “BMW, pick me up,” returned the car to the engineer.
The i3 was equipped with laser scanners, including two mounted in the front right and left quarter panels. No G.P.S. was used. Instead, the car relied on a map of the parking garage and an onboard cellular data connection. No smartphone was needed. The Samsung watch includes its own cellular connection, so commands are sent to a BMW server, which then relays the instructions to the car, said Yves Pilat, one of BMW’s engineers developing the feature. BMW calls it fully automated remote valet parking.
Several other companies have demonstrated similar self-parking cars, including Toyota, Valeo and Volkswagen. In many ways, the development is an extension of existing parallel parking assist technologies. In such systems, the driver remains behind the wheel, but with a push of a button, the vehicle measures the parking space and then swings backs into it without any input from the human operator.
“Now, the concept is you can do any kind of parking spot,” Mr. Pilat said, and without a driver.
Aside from preventing Ferris Bueller-like joy rides by garage attendants, the advantage of introducing autonomous car features to handle parking has several benefits, foremost being to win over skeptical consumers.
Parallel parking was “the first step in getting drivers to understand that there are some tasks the car might be able to do better than you,” said John Hanson, Toyota Motor Sales USA’s national manager for advanced technology and business communication.
by John R. Quain, NY Times | Read more:
Image: BMW AG
