Parking

December 14, 2006 Touch parking, the method of parking employed inevitably across the world’s crowded urban canyons by millions of people a day, could become a thing of the past. Judging the size of a parking space – whether a car can actually fit in the available space - is one of the keys to successful parking and a new invention from Bosch will offer just that facility. The Citroen C4 Picasso has become the world's first car to feature integrated parking space measurement. The Bosch driver assistance system tells the vehicle's driver whether the prospective parking space is long enough for the car. The parking space measurement in the C4 Picasso is based on the Bosch parking assistant, which helps drivers avoid shunting other cars and obstacles while parking. Besides the standard four ultrasound sensors on the vehicle front and rear, two extra sensors have been added for parking space measurement, one on either side of the front bumper. Read More

September 13, 2006 Volkswagen has revealed the first images of its new Touran compact MPV, ahead of its world public debut at the Paris Motor Show later this month. With a fresh new appearance and innovative technologies, yet still boasting all the practical features for which the Touran has become renowned, the revised seven-seater people carrier looks set to continue the model’s success. The new Touran will be the first Volkswagen available with ParkAssist, an optional parking guidance system developed by Volkswagen engineers. ParkAssist enables automatic parking, using front and rear ultrasonic sensors to detect available parking space and a control unit to calculate the ideal manoeuvring path. Acoustic and visual displays guide the driver to the correct parking start position, then once reverse gear is selected the car parks itself in under 15 seconds. All the driver has to do in this time is accelerate and brake – the Touran does all the steering. The system will be available in the from June 2007. Read More

August 1 2006 BMW drivers will soon be able to garage their cars by remote control and boost child safety at the same time. The prototype BMW Remote Park Assist allows drivers to stand beside their car while it parks itself in their garage. The car can be reversed from the parking place with the driver monitoring pedestrian traffic, removing the risk of reversing into children or pets. Vehicle guidance is controlled via the key fob and the car moves at 2.5 km/h, half walking speed. As soon as button on the key fob is released the car stops moving. Guidance is controlled via sensors and a special mirror mounted in the garage. The car is retrieved from its parking space in an exact reversal of the parking manoeuvre. Sensors detect obstructions and guide the car around them. BMW Remote Park Assist is ideal for restricted inner city parking spaces such as town house developments and apartment buildings. The prototype system was revealed in Munich at the BMW Innovations Day last month. Read More

November 22, 2005 Architect, urban planner and inventor John Alt today challenged the parking industry to license and implement new mobility technology that will increase pedestrian access throughout central business districts and make downtown "satellite" parking facilities feasible for the first time.

The new technology, called SMRrTRAM ("smart tram"), is a bus-like vehicle that operates at street level and provides continuous, high capacity, two-way transport along a single, dedicated guide lane. Two trams always arrive together at each stop, from opposite directions, and the next pair is never more than two-and-a-half minutes away. Read More

Detroit January 7, 2005 Somewhere between an armoured car and a sporty bank vault, the Ford SYN US concept is compact enough to manoeuvre through congested streets and tough enough to deter even the most ardent intruder. It was designed as an exercise to see what the urban vehicle of the future might look like, with a strong emphasis on security, as the majority of the world's population will live in urban areas by 2010. the nice thing is that when you park this baby, no-one will break in, thanks to the shutters that guard the windows. Read More

Sunday July 20, 2003: The Taurus T123 is an electro-magnetic reversing sensor that operates along the full length of the bumper and alerts the driver when any object is 0.8 metres from the rear of the vehicle. Developed in Europe and now available in Australia - where more than 12,000 "at-fault" collisions from avoidable reversing incidents occurred in 2001... Read More

The most expensive parking is the parking we don’t have. Not that long ago, when cars were less plentiful and inner city space was moreso, the major expenses of driving were depreciation and running costs. Now as space becomes more valuable and competition for that space is also at a high, parking space is fast becoming a major expense with mid-town Manhattan, London and Tokyo all commanding up to US$500 a month for a parking space and a permanent parking space was recently sold in London for UKP300,000. The solution to the world’s Parking Crisis is obvious: state-of-the-art automated parking robotic technologies will deliver the most space-efficient and hence cost-efficient parking. The current generation of parking garages has space-consuming access ramps and lots of access lanes that never get parked on, and also needs enough height for a very tall human being to comfortably walk upright – rather than the space-efficient compact box into which your car is slipped in an automated system. The ramps aren’t needed when you have a car lift and a computerized racking system. Whatsmore, a custom-built automated car parking facility of the same size as a conventional carpark can hold at least twice as many cars, offering double or more the income after a safe refurbishing investment. It’s more efficient for the customer (less than 2.5 minutes to get your car), costs less to run (no human attendants are required), there are no accidents, dents or scratches (because computers move the cars, not humans), and as the cars cannot be reached by other car park users, there’s no chance of theft or vandalism. Though this article is primarily about Automotion, there are now many manufacturers of automated carpark solutions, such as Stolzer Parkhaus, Robopark, Westfalia, Klausparking, LTW, Trevipark, Urban Parking Concepts, Eltodo, Space Saver Parking and the massive Chinese Tianchen Group – if you have a space that could use a carpark, this solution will make your money work at least twice as hard. Read More