Volvo Creates Self-Parking Car

Meet Your New Driving Instructor

Johnny is taking his driver's education test in his parent's brand new 2014 Volvo XC90. So far, he's flawless. He has mastered switching lanes, getting passed on the highway, avoiding the infamous little boy chasing the bouncing ball into the street, and has now come to ...parking.
Johnny hates parking.
He starts to sweat, and he begins wonder if he will ever be trusted with his parent's vehicle again. The instructor asks him to park the vehicle in a crowded parking lot.
Luckily, Johnny remembers what his Dad told him before the test, "wreck my car and you're grounded..." and, "you can park this car with your phone." Johnny gets out of the car, presses the 'park' button on his phone, and walks away with confidence, thanks to Volvo's SARTRE (Safe Road Trains for the Environment) project.

Concept

Now hopefully the driving instructor wouldn't let Johnny get away with that, but with Volvo's self-parking car, you can leave your car at the door, and it will automatically go find a parking spot for itself. Using a smartphone application, the Volvo will show you where it parked. Using the same app, you can command the Volvo to come pick you up at your location. Although this technology is a concept at this point, it is rumored to be available on the XC90 in 2014.

Test Results

"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 Bromberg, Senior Safety Advisor Volvo Car Group.

If you're wondering if the Volvo will be able to react to other drivers, pedestrians, and other obstacles, the answer is yes. During the test, the vehicle was able to interact with its surroundings and park in an empty parking space effectively.

Source: Volvo

Set up your test drive for the Volvo XC90 at:

Betten Imports
5901 28th Street SE
Grand Rapids, MI 49546

For more information on the XC90 click HERE.

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