Daimler and Bosch have teamed up to create a driverless Automated Valet Parking system in a multi-story car park at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart. Don’t worry about having to wait for a valet driver to fetch your keys and park your car, since this automated system allows your car to automatically proceed to a parking spot.

Automated valet parking marks is a step on the way to fully autonomous driving. The pilot program at the Mercedes-Benz Museum represents the world’s first infrastructure-supported solution for an automated drive-up and parking service in real-life dual operating mode. Starting early next year, visitors to the museum’s multi-story car park will be able to experience it themselves and avoid the hassle of having to park themselves.

“We are approaching autonomous driving faster than many people suspect. The driverless parking solution at the Mercedes-Benz Museum demonstrates in impressive fashion just how far the technology has come,” said Dr Michael Hafner, Head of Automated Driving and Active Safety at Mercedes-Benz Cars Development. “Parking will be an automated process in the future. By applying an intelligent multi-story car park infrastructure and networking it with vehicles, we have managed to realize driverless parking substantially earlier than planned,” said Gerhard Steiger, Director of the Chassis Systems Control unit at Bosch.

Bosch und Daimler Automated Valet Parking

The entire process is controlled via your smartphone where you simply tell it to park or come back and pick you up once you’re ready to leave. Sensors installed in the car park monitor the driving corridor and its surroundings and steer the vehicle.

Bosch und Daimler Automated Valet Parking

Bosch supplied the sensors for the car park infrastructure and the communications technology. For its part, Daimler is providing the private museum car park and pilot vehicles.

Source: Daimler