When Lexus introduced the LS 460 it made a giant deal about it being
able | | Park Assist Vision will allow owners to park their cars without even being inside them. (Photo: Volkswagen) | to park itself. And while it wasn't the first car to feature this
technology (that honor goes to a regular Toyota), it was the first of
its type to be marketed in North America. Since that time Volkswagen
has begun to offer self-parking systems on some of its vehicles. But
now, the German giant is working on a parking system that will allow
the car to be parked by itself without the driver being in the car at
all!
The
system builds off the standard, radar-based Park Assist, but adds in
the dimension of vision. PAV, as it's called, features several cameras
and, when combined with regular parking sensors and a powerful 2 GHz
computer processor, is able to slot the vehicle into a regular parking
stall, or into a parallel field. All the driver must do is pull up
alongside a parking spot. The computer determines whether or not
parking the vehicle within the space is | | System uses cameras, sensors and a very powerful computer to park the vehicle. (Photo: Volkswagen) | possible. If all is good, the
driver simply selects the spot on the navigation screen and puts the
vehicle in “Park”.
What is particularly
amazing is that the driver can get out of the car and walk away. The
whole process can be controlled via the key fob, and features an
emergency stop should things go awry. Once the vehicle is stopped, the
car locks itself.
While there are
certainly some limitations, and definitely some liability issues that
would need to be addressed, the idea of a true, self-parking car is
certainly curious. Volkswagen believes that one day, after the system
has been perfected, it will offer it on production vehicles.
|