Cars that park themselves

Ricochet J · 16 Apr 2011 at 18:31

I've read about the tech that allows cars to park itself in "tight" spaces. I've seen YouTube demonstrations of this on the new Focus.

As far as the engineering and tech goes, it's quite impressive. And then that's it.

From what I've seen it requires a bit of space to park in the selected bay. Surely it'll be easier to do this yourself? You'd have to be crap to not be able to park in the sorts of spaces demonstrated in the videos.

To coin a phrase "you could land a jumbo ******* jet in there".

Ricochet J · 16 Apr 2011 at 18:31

Crap. Can someone move this to Motors please.

Cosimo · 16 Apr 2011 at 18:45

My does it. Bit spooky at first but it's a great party trick.

[TW]Fox · 16 Apr 2011 at 18:50

You use it for parallel parking as well. The F10 does it.

Ricochet J · 16 Apr 2011 at 18:50

simulatorman said:
My does it. Bit spooky at first but it's a great party trick.

How much space does it need?

Cosimo · 16 Apr 2011 at 18:55

Ricochet J said:
How much space does it need?

The minimum gap is car length plus 1.2 metres.

Shimmy · 16 Apr 2011 at 18:58

What happens if the system messes up and the car has a bump?

Driver still fully responsible?

robjf · 16 Apr 2011 at 19:03

Shimmy said:
What happens if the system messes up and the car has a bump?

Driver still fully responsible?

Of course. You're supposed to cover the brake!

Reaper 392 · 16 Apr 2011 at 23:06

this is nothing new, cars that park themselves have been around for years. they're called taxi's

mjt · 16 Apr 2011 at 23:12

I forgot to try it on the F10, which I'm annoyed about.
Surround view is brilliant though.

Although I'm surprised at how far this technology has come since it was launched.
We stuck it on our Golf as it was only £200 over the sensors. Be interesting to see how well it works.

Fr0dders · 17 Apr 2011 at 06:48

They tested this on a lexus on top gear australia

really surprised to see it works perfectly. Looks a genuinely useful gadget !

jamief · 17 Apr 2011 at 08:58

Shimmy said:
What happens if the system messes up and the car has a bump?

Driver still fully responsible?

No, your car is liable for the damage. It'll have to go out and get a job.

Deep · 17 Apr 2011 at 09:05

MrLOL said:
They tested this on a lexus on top gear australia

really surprised to see it works perfectly. Looks a genuinely useful gadget !

It was also shown on Top Gear UK, but I seem to remember it didn't work properly

Fr0dders · 17 Apr 2011 at 09:07

Deep said:
It was also shown on Top Gear UK, but I seem to remember it didn't work properly

thats why i was surprised to see it work on Top Gear OZ !

Cosimo · 17 Apr 2011 at 10:18

Shimmy said:
What happens if the system messes up and the car has a bump?

Driver still fully responsible?

Yup, you still have the brake and gas pedal. Of course you can grab the steering wheel to take over as well.

A demo:

Deep · 17 Apr 2011 at 10:50

MrLOL said:
thats why i was surprised to see it work on Top Gear OZ !

It was the LS they tried on UK right?s

killsta · 17 Apr 2011 at 11:39

simulatorman said:
Yup, you still have the brake and gas pedal. Of course you can grab the steering wheel to take over as well.

A demo:

You must be a world class 'tard not to be able to get that BMW in that MASSIVE space by yourself

Deep · 17 Apr 2011 at 11:58

killsta said:
You must be a world class 'tard not to be able to get that BMW in that MASSIVE space by yourself

Definitely!

daveydave · 17 Apr 2011 at 17:34

Deep said:
It was also shown on Top Gear UK, but I seem to remember it didn't work properly

That's because top gear is a tv show designed for getting laughs.

I've used it in GS450h and LS600h and it works flawlessly. I've also used it in a VW tiguan...again flawless.

It's been around for years.

DM · 17 Apr 2011 at 17:36

daveydave said:
That's because top gear is a tv show designed for getting laughs.

I've used it in GS450h and LS600h and it works flawlessly. I've also used it in a VW tiguan...again flawless.

It's been around for years.

Yea i used a VW Tiguan and it worked perfect.