The Self-Parking Car Drives Into The US

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Someday cars will have no steering wheels, because they will drive themselves. Spooky, huh?

You may think that is just a fantasy, but self-parking cars have been in development for a few years. Now it looks like Toyota may be the first manufacturer to hit the market with a real, no fooling, self-parking car. Even better, it is a hybrid so it will even drive right by gas stations - most of the time.

I can't tell you exactly how the Toyota system works, but the Car Parking Aid system being developed at Roke Manor Research combines information from a number of on-board sensors to help execute parking maneuvers quickly and accurately.

The system uses millimeter wave radar sensors and advanced image processing algorithms. This sensor fusion approach enables parking spaces to be measured more accurately and robustly than would be possible using either technology alone. I don't know exactly what all that means, but then I still can't program my VCR.

Intelligent Parking Assist is an entirely different system. It is the new $2,200 option package for Toyota's Prius gas-electric hybrid car. Now every driver will be able to parallel park blindfolded. Come to think of it, with so many drivers influenced by too much NASCAR TV, driving blindfolded is not such a bad idea.

Intelligent Parking Assist relies on a built-in computer and a steering sensor. A tiny camera is located in the car's rear and a dashboard monitor displays what the camera sees. The driver just pulls up near a parking space and shifts into reverse. Then computerized lines materialize on the camera display monitor. Next to the lines there are arrows pointing up, down, left and right.

The driver uses the arrows, to move the lines around on the display monitor until the lines define exactly where you want the car to be smashed...err, I mean parked. (You better take your blindfold off for this!) Now that all the preliminaries have been taken care of you just push the "set" button.

It is here that the owner's manual says to "Keep your foot lightly on the brake pedal", and the car will start backing up. The steering wheel will move as if the car is being driven by the invisible man. The car will magically ease into the parking space you've chosen with the computer display.

The car's smarty pants computer senses when it's time to turn the car's wheel and the ride is over when you hear a computerized voice say "The assist is over." (Then you can uncross your fingers?)

This new technology has already been available on Toyota hybrid models in Britain and 70 percent of the car buyers paid the $700 for the self-park feature.

In Japan about 80 percent of Prius buyers jumped at the Intelligent Parking Assist option. It's a well known fact that Japan has one trillion people and only 8 parking spaces, so drivers may never get the opportunity to use the new feature.

I love technology. Cars now have automatic climate control. satellite guidance systems, surround sound, security sensors, cruise control and now self-parking. I can hardly wait until my car will be able to make its own monthly payments!

Mark Walters writes about hybrid cars at http://www.HybridVehicleStar.com where he explains many of the hybrid features including the Self-Parking Car