Imagine pulling up to a nearly packed parking lot in the middle of the holiday season. You haven’t even braved the crowds, and you’re sick to your stomach already, having taken a few laps around the parking lot, not to mention wasted valuable shopping time. Sounds like the stuff of nightmares right? That’s where it might be relegated as those days may soon be over. What if you car could park itself? Autonomous driving may sound like science fiction, but with automakers dabbling with semi-autonomous technology, it’s closer than you might think.
Honda recently unveiled their new automatic valet parking system at the Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) World Congress in Tokyo. Honda demonstrated this new technology with a Honda Fit EV. When dropped off at a central location, the Fit EV uses parking lot surveillance cameras, and information from its own rearview camera to park itself. When owners are ready to leave, they simply call the car, and it will return. What’s more, this advanced technology allows multiple cars to be parked at once. Honda expects the technology will be ready for public use by or before 2020.
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