Daimler and Bosch have obtained the approval from the relevant authorities in Baden-Württemberg to implement the world’s first fully automated driverless (SAE Level 4) parking function in the Mercedes-Benz Museum parking garage in Stuttgart.
The automated valet parking service leverages on the intelligent parking garage infrastructure supplied by Bosch and Mercedes-Benz’s autonomous driving technologies.
Sensors in the parking garage monitor the driving corridor and its surroundings to provide the information needed to guide the vehicle. The car’s systems then takes the information and performs the driving manoeuvres, and is capable of navigating up and down ramps, or stop automatically when an obstacle is detected.
In practice, users only need to enter the parking garage, exit the vehicle, and use a smartphone app to send the car to a parking space. The car then proceeds to drive itself to an assigned space and parks. When the user is ready to leave, the car is summoned and returns to the drop-off point in exactly the same way.
“This decision by the authorities shows that innovations like automated valet parking are possible in Germany first. Driverless driving and parking are important building blocks for tomorrow’s mobility. The automated parking system shows just how far we have already progressed along this development path,” said Markus Heyn, member of the board of management of Robert Bosch GmbH.
“This approval from the Baden-Württemberg authorities sets a precedent for obtaining approval in the future for the parking service in parking garages around the world. As a pioneer in automated driving, our project paves the way for automated valet parking to go into mass production in the future,” added Michael Hafner, the head of drive technologies and automated driving at Daimler AG.