Daimler and Bosch start pilot project for automating parking in a car park; valet parking via smartphone
10 June 2015
Daimler, Bosch and car2go are partnering on a project investigating automated parking in a parking garage. The vehicle will drive to a free space independently and return when summoned up by itself. Automated parking is made possible thanks to an intelligent infrastructure in the car park and a vehicle control unit from Bosch in conjunction with the newest generation of Mercedes-Benz on-board sensors and the car-sharing expertise of car2go.
Appropriately equipped parking garages could support this automated maneuvering in the near future.
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!
—Prof. Dr. Thomas Weber, Member of the Board Daimler AG, responsible for Group Research & Mercedes-Benz Cars Development
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.
—Dr. Dirk Hoheisel, the responsible Board Member of Bosch
A driver would use his or her smartphone 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 equally simple. The customer parks it in the drop-zone of the car park and returns the car via the smartphone. The intelligent system of the car park registers the vehicle, starts it and is directed to an assigned parking space.
Bosch is developing the necessary infrastructure for the car park, including parking space occupancy sensors, cameras and the communication technology. Furthermore, Bosch will account for 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 the sensor systems and the software in the car2go vehicles and enables future innovation leaps for the car-sharing model of car2go.
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