Self-driving cars might have a great track record safety-wise, but truly autonomous rides are likely at least a decade away from the market. Because even if the technology was perfected tomorrow, reams of legislation remains to be written to govern how consumers can use them.
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But if Daimler, Bosch, and car-sharing service Car2Go have their way, fully automated parking might arrive significantly sooner.
A press release announcing a new partnership between the companies speculates that a host of factors—not the least of which are slow speeds and relative ease of installing infrastructure—will lead soon lead to garages where automation is the rule.
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The system would essentially work like current a valet operation, except instead of handing your keys over to a potentially maniacal teenager, the car will use onboard sensors and data from Bosch's garage-based logistical system to guide itself to a slot in the structure. Upon returning, drivers would use a smartphone app to recall their ride.
The first implementation would likely come via using the car2go service, though at this point, a date to begin testing hasn't been set. While the staff of Motor Authority are obviously fans of driving, a technology that prevents us from aimlessly circling a garage, searching for parking, is technology we'd support wholeheartedly.
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