Daimler and Bosch score big autonomy goal

German authorities have granted approval for Daimler and Bosch for a world’s first automated parking system that is effectively a driverless valet service.

Drivers can now arrive at the Mercedes-Benz Museum’s garage in Stuttgart, use a smartphone to send it to an empty parking spot and simply walk away. With another tap on the app, the car will return to exactly the same spot again, with no driving assistance.

Authorities in Daimler’s home state of Baden-Württemberg granted the approval, which meets the Society of Automotive Engineers’ Level 4 autonomy definition, this week.

“This decision by the authorities shows that innovations like automated valet parking are possible in Germany first,” Robert Bosch board member Dr Markus Heyn said.

“Driverless driving and parking are important building blocks for tomorrow’s mobility. The automated parking system shows just how far we have already progressed along this development path.”

The system is split down the middle, with Daimler providing the in-car technology and Bosch delivering the infrastructure to make it happen.

The Mercedes-Benz cars use their on-board driver-assistance functions to move up and down ramps and around corners to park, while the Bosch infrastructure guides the cars around the garage and warns them of hazards.

Benz also developed a new lighting philosophy, including a set of turquoise lights to indicate to pedestrians and other drivers that the car was being driven autonomously, complying with the recent SAE 3134 standard.

“This approval from the Baden-Württemberg authorities sets a precedent for obtaining approval in the future for the parking service in parking garages around the world,” Daimler’s head of automated driving, 
Dr Michael Hafner, insisted.

“As a pioneer in automated driving, our project paves the way for automated valet parking to go into mass production in the future.”

The project has been four years in the making, with the two companies beginning work in 2015. Benz has been demonstrating the system to interested customers since 2017 but it has always been used with a safety driver at the wheel, just in case of problems.

Making the situation even more difficult, there is no German or European Union testing process for driverless cars, so the two engineering powerhouses instead worked with the German TÜV Rheinland technical inspectors, the state transport ministry and the Stuttgart local authorities to define the system’s safety.

Benz’s intention is to move beyond the pilot-project stage and the approval gives it a set of guidelines to do it, which could be particularly helpful at airports and urban parking garages.

The guidelines include secure communications between all of the system’s parts to ensure its reliability and the way the cars detect pedestrians and other obstacles.