Parallel Parking

If you have ever lived downtown in a big city, you know how to parallel park, but you also know it can be a pain in the-you-know-what!  Even if you are conscientious enough to leave plenty of space for the driver parked behind you to get out, there is no guarantee that the next parker will not come along and box you in so tight that by the time you complete the grueling job of getting your car out of the parking spot, you are ready to take a nap.

Car makers have come up with an innovative solution where instead of the becoming frazzled by trying to squeeze your vehicle into a tiny spot risking fender benders and traffic jams, you simply push a button, sit back, and the car actually parallel parks itself.  This is the technology of the future that will eventually be used to design a car that can be put on auto pilot to drive it’s self.

How does the self parking mechanism work? The car is equipped with a  small camera mounted in the rear or the vehicle, a built in computer, and a steering sensor that all function to work  together providing effortless parallel parking.

The driver pulls up in front of a vacant spot and then the driver shifts the car into reverse, the parking mechanism is selected to activate the system and an image of the parking spot shows a box with arrows pointing in all four directions, on the navigation screen.  The driver simply taps the arrows to adjust the picture on the screen, projecting exactly where he wants the car to end up.  Then select a button and the car starts to back up and steer itself into the parking spot.  The only thing the driver has to do is to control the speed of the car when backing up by keeping his foot on the brake and of course watch for an unexpected pedestrian walking in the way.  Then when the car is properly positioned into the parking spot, the driver simply shifts into drive and pulls the car forward.  Although it is not a 100% automated process, it certainly takes the stress out of the most difficult part of parallel parking. Check out a new hybrid Toyota or  Lexus with the self-park option at Spirit Toyota today.