Mercedes is jumping on the parking assistance bandwagon by introducing a system that will help drivers to parallel park. The system uses side-mounted sonar sensors to detect whether there’s sufficient space to park on the side. If a driver indicates and is travelling less than 16km/h the system will display a “P” symbol indicating a parking spot.

Once the driver has engaged reverse gear the display shows a bird’s-eye view of the parking spot along with coloured lines that show the driver how best to park.

The system will be available in the CL-class from the end of this year but there’s no word on whether it’ll be an optional extra or standard.

Our opinion? If you’re going to buy a $100,000 coupe you can afford to get proper driving lessons. Why shell out for a horribly complicated piece of technology when you can improve your parking skills with a little bit of effort.