Daimler and Bosch present an autonomous parking project for underground car parks

Imagine arriving at the entrance of an underground car park, getting out of the car and letting it go off on its own to look for a free space, sparing you the hassle of driving through its narrow streets and checking whether there is a spot to park in. Now imagine that you have just finished your business in the city centre, or you have just finished watching the film at the cinema, and you go to fetch the car.

In this case too, the car will drive itself to the car park exit, without you having to walk all the way to it. A rather curious and effective idea, since for those of us with the memory of a goldfish, finding the car and getting out of the car park can be quite a headache. All of this will be possible in a short time, thanks to the agreement signed between Daimler and Bosch to create a system that does exactly that.

This will be possible thanks to an electronic and technological infrastructure in the car park, which works by sending the route to the free parking space to the device the car is equipped with. This system was presented by Thomas Weber, member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG, responsible for Group Research and Mercedes-Benz Cars Development. According to him, this system will be easy to implement, with Bosch’s help, since it simply involves guiding the car at low speed by following the instructions sent by the car park’s infrastructure.

In theory, current technology already allows this type of autonomous driving and it could be implemented in series-production cars well before full autonomous driving. That said, in the first stage of the project, its initial use will be the car rental service car2go, the brand’s rental car service. The customer will request a car from the smartphone app and wait at the car park entrance.

When it is ready, the car will leave autonomously to the spot where the customer is waiting, who can get in and enjoy the service until returning it. At that point, they will only have to get out of the car and let it drive itself back to its parking space. Thanks to the agreement, Bosch is responsible for preparing the car park’s sensors and technological equipment, such as the space occupancy sensors, cameras and the car’s communication technology, as well as developing the interface together with Daimler.

The carmaker will be responsible for equipping the car2go cars with the sensors and software needed for the car to carry out parking commands, as well as implementing all the innovations necessary for its proper functioning. If this pilot programme works, it will not take long to be applied to other types of vehicles, until it becomes something common in cars. At least in high-end ones.

Source | Mercedes-Benz