Mercedes and Bosch have collaborated with the InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown hotel in order to demonstrate an automated valet service. The technology not only demonstrated the EQS’s ability to drive itself, but it also showed the system’s ability to operate alongside normal vehicles and humans.
“The demonstration at the InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown showcases how automated valet parking will operate in a working hotel environment where both automated and non-automated vehicles operate alongside pedestrian traffic,” said Dr. Kay Stepper, senior vice president of automated driving and driver assistance for Bosch in North America. “This allows us to dive into the dynamics of local deployments with the use of a highly-connected EQS from Mercedes-EQ to demonstrate how automated technology continues to move forward.”
The system is pretty simple and allows the driver to jump out of the vehicle, open a smartphone app, and send the vehicle away into the parking lot. The app interacts with sensors in the parking lot to see if there are any spots available or if the driver has reserved one, and the EQS drives off and finds it.
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When the driver wants their vehicle, they can simply beckon it and meet it at the designated location. Mercedes touts the technology as being a time-saver that spares the owner from having to endlessly look for parking spots. It also makes parking easier, because it doesn’t really matter to the driver how far the parking spot is from the door.
“Low-speed maneuvers are part of the holistic opportunity for automated technology,” Stepper said. “Automated technology in the specific use case automated valet parking gets consumers comfortable with how automated technology works and how it can benefit them.”
The automated valet parking technology uses the INTELLIGENT PARK PILOT available in the EQS and Mercedes says that it will make parking garages capable of holding more vehicles, since they don’t need to be able to open their doors. The demonstration was an example of what the automaker calls the future vehicle experience for its customers.
