VW's latest trick: It's a walk in the park

It's a nightmare for many drivers -- having to slot their car into a tight parking spot in the typical shopping-mall car park.

Well, beads of sweat no longer need form on the brows of said individuals as Volkswagen has developed -- it's currently in its trial phase -- a new technology that does all the dirty work for you. 

Dubbed Park Assist Vision and making its debut at this week's Hanover Fair in Germany, the system is an evolution of the Park Assist semi-automatic park-steering system currently offered in the Touran, Tiguan and Passat.

But where the existing system parallel-parks the car without the driver having to touch the wheel, the new tech is designed to navigate the car into perpendicular parking spots.

And it really is a no-brainer.

In Volkswagen's own words: "We observe the approach of a Passat estate, it stops, the driver gets out, slams the door shut and, as he walks away from the car, he aims a remote control back at it. That car now proceeds to reverse park itself into the available space, it then independently cuts the engine and activates the door locks. End of performance."

The Park Assist Vision system uses ultrasound sensors and cameras on the side mirrors as well as at the front and rear of the vehicle, and these provide the requisite data for a 2-GHz computer to gauge the dimensions of a perpendicular parking space and guide the car in automatically.

All you need to do is select an available space on the monitor of the navigation system, set the gear-selection lever to "P" and alight from the car -- or you can choose to stay put until the vehicle has been manoeuvred into its space.

The fact that it can be activated remotely (ie after you're already out of the car) would be an absolute boon in situations where the parking spot is so tight, you would otherwise have to pry the door open and limbo your way out of the seat to avoid leaving a massive dent in the adjacent vehicle.

Volkswagen says the automated parking system is still in the trial phase of development, and is yet to announce when the technology will be mass-marketed.

Watch this space…. Or perhaps Park Assist Vision can do that for you, too.

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