Cars Park Themselves in Open Spaces with Autonomous Parking | Volvo

Volvo Autonomous Parking | Volvo's Self-Driving Parking System

Volvo Announces Self-Driving Parking System That Finds and Parks in Empty Spaces

You may no longer need to worry about finding a parking space. Your car will find an empty spot on its own and even come to pick you up when you're ready to leave. Volvo is developing such a system.

Text by HORIGUCHI Yoshihiro (OPENERS)

Car Finds and Parks in Empty Spaces

Volvo has developed a self-driving parking system that allows the car to find an empty parking space and park itself after the driver has exited. It will be showcased in a concept car next week for the press.

While semi-autonomous parking systems, which recognize the width of the car and determine if it can fit, or recognize lane markings and control steering to stay within them, have already been adopted in commercially available models, Volvo's announcement today concerns a fully autonomous system that drives to a parking space and parks without a driver.

For details on how it works, please watch the video above. The driver simply exits the car at the entrance of the parking lot and gives the parking command via a smartphone application. The car then autonomously parks in an available space. When a departure command is received, it will automatically drive back to the driver's location.

While driving autonomously within the parking lot, Volvo's safety features are fully utilized. The system recognizes surrounding vehicles and even pedestrians, stopping if necessary. Once safety is confirmed, it resumes driving and heads towards the driver.

This self-driving parking system is one of the results of Volvo's ongoing research and development towards achieving autonomous driving. Volvo aims to be a global leader in this field, and this system, rather than remaining a concept, is being considered for integration into production models.

Volvo Autonomous Parking | Volvo's Self-Driving Parking System

"While this autonomous parking function and the follow-the-leader (convoy) function are still under development, we plan to showcase our first step towards our goal of taking leadership in this field with the autonomous steering function to be adopted in the new 'XC90' scheduled for announcement at the end of 2014," commented Thomas Broberg, Senior Safety Advisor at Volvo Group.