Daimler and Bosch Make Driverless Parking a Reality in Germany

Daimler and Bosch have announced the launch of the first entirely driverless valet parking service at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart, Germany.

The level-4 automated technology (driverless navigation in a geographically isolated zone) is accessible from a mobile app. It's a first worldwide, as absolutely no driver is needed.

The driverless parking technology handles the vehicle in a completely autonomous manner. The visitor comes to the museum, gets out of the car, and commands the car to park itself from a simple command via smartphone. When leaving, the car follows the same route out of the parking garage entirely on its own. The system relies on the interaction between the parking infrastructure provided by Bosch and the driverless parking technology developed by Mercedes-Benz.

An entire series of sensors installed in the parking lot provides the information necessary for guiding the vehicle. In this way, the car can navigate up and down the ramps between the parking levels. If the vehicle encounters an obstacle, it stops completely. The launch required approval from the Bade-Wurtemberg local authorities.

The project dates to 2015 when Bosch and Daimler began developing driverless parking garages. In 2017, the first experiments were made public. Since 2018, visitors to the museum can use the service accompanied by a qualified security guard. From now on, the service will be accessible without any particular surveillance.