Volvo is looking far ahead in time by introducing a self parking car – autonomous parking as the company calls it. The car can find an empty space on its own and parallel park – all by itself. This concept will be showcased in a media event next week.
The idea is that driver leaves the car at the car parking lot, activates autonomous parking and leaves. When he returns, he can call his Volvo to return back to the same position where he left. Very nice! Valet parking on demand…
As always, there is a catch. The parking lot has to install Vehicle 2 Infrastructure technology to enable self parking. This technology communicates with the boundary lines of the parking spot to find empty spaces, identifies non self parking cars so not to crash it and of course the pedestrians. The last thing Volvo needs is to be sued for breaking pedestrian’s limbs!
Coming back to reality, a portion of this technology – autonomous – will be implemented in the new Volvo XC90. Autonomous steering which steers the wheel automatically is believed to be ready for consumer use.
