Finding a parking space just got a little easier.
Volvo introduced their XC90 vehicle this week which will have autonomous self-parking capabilities according to USA Today.
A concept vehicle was demonstrated this week, and though the car is nowhere near ready to hit showrooms, the company said its goal is to release the self-parking vehicle by 2014.
"Autonomous parking is a concept technology that relieves the driver of the time-consuming task of finding a vacant parking space. The driver just drops the vehicle off at the entrance to the car park and picks it up in the same place later," said Thomas Broberg, a senior safety advisor at Volvo Car Group in a press statement.
The vehicle won't work anywhere once being released however, as the parking lot will have to have "Vehicle 2" infrastructure technology according to Broberg. The company hopes to release a car that can park anywhere by itself in the near future.
The idea is much more complex than current cars that have autonomous self-parking capabilities. In current vehicles, drivers have to activate the system while inside the car until the vehicle is parked, using the brakes to prevent from hitting other objects or parked cars.
Volvo is pushing to create a vehicle that parks itself without any human interaction.
In lots with Vehicle 2 technology, the vehicle will be able to tell if the lot is full or has "some" empty spots, and will let the driver know.
"The driver uses a mobile phone application to activate the Autonomous parking and then walks away from the car. The vehicle uses sensors to localize and navigate to a free parking space. The procedure is reversed when the driver comes back to pick up the car," Broberg said according to USA Today.
If Volvo is successful, the idea of a self-driving vehicle would seem a lot more realistic. The technology is still under "early" development according to Broberg.
Google is one of the many companies currently working on a self-driving vehicle by using cameras and sensors to follow a route without hitting anything. The company even demonstrated their vehicle with a blind person behind the wheel last year.
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