The time when we no longer have to look for a parking space ourselves is approaching: a South Korean company has battery-operated robots carrying cars through the parking garage – regardless of their technical equipment. Bosch and VW, on the other hand, are allowing electric cars to automatically drive to a charging station and refill their batteries on a trial basis. The vehicles then independently look for a free space in the parking garage.
The German auto supplier presented the joint test with Volkswagen’s software subsidiary Cariad on Monday at the CES technology trade fair in Las Vegas. They see the idea as a solution to waiting times in front of the columns and blocking fees for drivers who do not drive their cars away quickly enough after the charging process has been completed. Driverless charging is being tested in Bosch’s development parking garage in Ludwigsburg. The charging cable is plugged in and pulled out by a robot arm. The system that allows vehicles to automatically find a space in the parking garage has been around for some time. It is also available to consumers with appropriately equipped cars in a parking garage at Stuttgart Airport. According to its own information, Bosch has begun to equip other parking garages in Germany with the necessary infrastructure. Battery vehicles carry cars through the parking garage. Meanwhile, the South Korean company HL Mando is trying to automate parking without additional technology in the vehicle. At CES, the company is showing a system called Parkie – a flat platform with electric motors that drives under the cars, lifts them and moves them around the parking lot. HL Mando sees the advantage as the parking space can be used more efficiently: Parkie can too drive sideways and is not dependent on the turning radius of the car. The platform can move vehicles weighing up to three tons and a battery charge should last up to five hours. HL Mando wants to sell the platforms to parking lot operators for around $100,000 each.
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