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• Daimler, Bosch start auto-park pilot
• Valet slotting via Smartphone
• Autonomous parking goal
STUTTGART, Germany - What if in the near future cars could look for spaces in a parking garage and return by themselves when summoned by a smartphone app?
That's the goal of a joint pilot project by Daimler, Bosch and car-sharing platform car2go. The trio will sign a contract on July 8 2015.
Daimler said: "The existing parking process could be revolutionised. It is not the customer who parks and searches for their car; the vehicle drives to a free space independently and drives up comfortably by itself again."
CAR2GO PROJECT
Automated parking is made possible thanks to an intelligent infrastructure in the car park and a vehicle control unit from Bosch in conjunction with on-board sensors by Mercedes-Benz and the car-sharing expertise of car2go.
This enables automated maneuvering in special parking garages in the near future.
Mercedes-Benz group research and member of the board of Daimler AG, Thomas Weber, said: “Our customers are always the centre of attention and all of our actions are oriented towards them. In future the car will even go to them.
“In collaboration with our partner Bosch and our mobility service car2go we are developing and testing an infrastructure-based solution for a fully automated valet parking service. For us another step on our way to autonomous driving – or as in this case: towards autonomous parking.”
Board member of Bosch, Dirk Hoheisel, said: “Fully automated parking will be ready for mass-production before fully automated driving.
“Low-driving speeds and the information from the car park infrastructure enable a fast implementation.”
HOW IT WORKS
The scenario is simple; A smartphone is used to book a vehicle via car2go. As soon as the user is ready in the pick-up-zone of the car park, the car drives up independently and the ride can begin. Returning the car is just as comfortable.
The customer parks it in the drop-zone of the car park and returns the car via their smartphone.
The intelligent system of the car park registers the vehicle, starts it and is directed to an assigned parking space.
Bosch is developing infrastructure for the car park, including parking space occupancy sensors, cameras and the communication technology. The company will develop the communication unit in the vehicle, which also controls the parking process and defines, together with Daimler, the interface with existing vehicle components.
Daimler will adjust sensor systems and the software in the car2go vehicles and enables future technology leaps for the car-sharing platform of car2go.
