Volvo Showcases New Benchmark 'Autonomous Parking System'

The development of advanced technology in the automobile industry has revolutionized it completely. Automakers are introducing extensive developments to make the vehicles more advance in each and every concern whether its performance, design, comfort and safety. However, the passenger’s safety in a vehicle is the most crucial part of its development and Volvo brand name has been associated with this concern since ages. Volvo has accumulated several accolades and patents for themselves like 3-point seat belt, side, knee and pedestrian airbags, collision traffic alert and the autonomous vehicle also.

Now, to register a new benchmark in the company’s history, Volvo has been testing an ‘Autonomous Parking’ technology on its premium hatchback V40. As described by the name autonomous parking system, the vehicle assists itself to park flawlessly without any physical and cerebral effort from humans. The technology works in collaboration with the Vehicle 2 Infrastructure technology which is defined as the road infrastructure equipped with data transmitters and sensors.

The driver controls the module with a smartphone application and just needs to touch the park button on the phone to park the vehicle on its own. The vehicle can drop the driver at the destination point and receive data from the road transmitters to navigate itself to the vacant parking space in the surroundings. The car follows the same reverse path and reaches back to the destination point when the driver wants the car to pick him/her up.

“Autonomous Parking is a concept technology that relieves the driver of the time-consuming task of finding a vacant parking space. The driver just drops the vehicle off at the entrance to the car park and picks it up in the same place later,” Thomas Broberg, Senior Safety Advisor, Volvo Car Group, said.

Several automakers have introduced the self-parking assist system but this is the first of its type where car can look for its space on its own. The autonomous parking will be introduced along with the introduction of autonomous steering system in the second generation XC90 at the end of 2014.