Laser-Guided BMW i3 Will Park Itself - 2015
Self-parking cars are starting to seem less pie-in-the-sky and more of an imminent reality with each passing year, and the latest technology usually shows up in some form at the annual technology fest known as the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada. At the 2013 CES show, Audi showed off its self-parking A7, and this January it will be BMW’s turn to dispatch a car on a staged round-trip expedition through a multilevel parking lot to an open parking spot and back to demonstrate its Remote Valet Parking Assistance system.
Unlike the Audi, the BMW i3 research vehicle to be shown at CES is controlled via a smart watch and combines information from a quartet of laser sensors and the digital site plan of a building to drive independently through various levels of the garage in search of a parking spot. Also unlike the Audi, it does not require that the parking structure itself be equipped with special sensors or equipment. Once at the spot, the car parks and locks itself and waits to be fetched by the smart-watch wearer. It then calculates how long it will take for the driver to return to the place where he or she left the car, and times its arrival accordingly, barring any unexpected blockade of cars behind an actual driver waiting for a spot to open up after some family to piles into their minivan.
Still unclear at this point is exactly when this technology will actually make it to a production car, as there are many moving pieces both inside and outside the auto industry (legislative bodies, privacy activists, valet unions, etc.) that will have to find their own parking spots before this stuff is ready for prime time.
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