Self-Parking Cars Coming To U.S. 610
Rio writes "Vehicles that are able to parallel park themselves while drivers sit and relax behind the wheel are coming to the United States, according to a Local 6 News report. New Toyota hybrid cars are now available in Britain with a $700 "parking assist" option. Local 6 news showed video of a driver sitting and allowing the car's steering wheel to turn on its own as it pulled into a tight parking spot on a London street. The reporter never touched the wheel as the car parked itself.Toyota says expect to see the technology pop up in the U.S. soon." Here is our previous coverage of their release in Japan.
Thank you Jesus (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Thank you Jesus (Score:5, Informative)
If you can't master this after about three attempts, let's just say I would recommend a nice icepick lobotomy.
Re:Thank you Jesus (Score:2)
That was a new level of sad.
Re:Thank you Jesus (Score:5, Funny)
"That's a four ton truck, Tyrone, how could you not see it?"
"It was at a funny angle!"
"It's behind you. Things tend to come up from behind you when you're reversing."
admittedly, this quote probably isn't perfect.
Re:Thank you Jesus (Score:2)
Re:Thank you Jesus (Score:3, Interesting)
I'd rather have the flexibility to know I can park wherever there is a space, if the need arises, and know that I can reverse my car with a semb
Practice...Practice...Practice (Score:3, Insightful)
If someone so un-coordinated as me can do it, anyone can do it. So in the end after a week of practice and 5 years later I ended up with $200/q
Re:Thank you Jesus (Score:5, Insightful)
That is the tricky part there. How do you know how close to the curb you are? If you have a good sense of spatial reasoning, you may have a "feel" for it, but a lot of people don't have that skill. The view shown in your mirrors is misleading. If the curb isn't too tall, you can do it "by feel"... you know you're at the curb when the back right tire pushes up against it. On the other hand, if you are parking next to a wall, that's a good way to scrape up your rear fender.
It's not terribly hard with practice, but it does take some skill and if you're not good at it you risk damaging your car, someone else's car, or pissing people off as they wait to pass while you mess it up and have to try again. That's more stress than many people want to have, so I can see why they might like this device.
Re:Thank you Jesus (Score:4, Informative)
As do millions of Americans, it's just you were at the biggest tourist trap in the world so of course every yahoo with a trailer hitch and an airstream was there. Check out any major or even minor city people do it everyday and some of them are actually good at it.
sorry I hate when some one from another country comes and sees the smallest slice of life and starts generalizing about the whole country.
Re:Thank you Jesus (Score:3, Funny)
If these math-challenged alleged planners were any good at planning, they'd have predicted the invention of the automobile and arranged their cities accordingly.
Any idiot can arrange a city so that it works right then. It takes a true City Planner to plan a city to work indefinitely.
Re:Thank you Jesus (Score:3, Funny)
Drive into the spot, nose first (wheel will be cranked hard to the right). Drive front corner tire over the curb. Once wheel is over the curb, crank left. When wheel comes back off curb, you are parked properly. Sure it might get you a ticket, but it sure is fast
Re:Thank you Jesus (Score:5, Funny)
And after three attempts, the guy waiting behind you might just be ready & willing.
Parked at 60 degree angle - Mod Parent Up (Score:3, Insightful)
Not only that, but if you live in Chicago (or anywhere with tight parking), you'll find that you don't have room to do it all in the one-pass method and you have to do that drive-forwards-and-backwards-several-times-while- t unri
Re:Thank you Jesus (Score:4, Funny)
A Tight Spot??? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:A Tight Spot??? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:A Tight Spot??? (Score:2)
Its not exaactly what you ordered, as the rear wheels don't steer, AFAIK. But it does have such a negligible turning radius that you could literally drive forward into a parking spot, and then turn the car... well, any way you wanted.
Too bad the thing looks like a baby carriage. Probably has the crash rating of one too.
Re:A Tight Spot??? (Score:2)
Great, until a software glitch causes this "feature" to kick in at highway speeds... now that I'd like to see.
Re:A Tight Spot??? (Score:2)
Re:A Tight Spot??? (Score:5, Interesting)
Does anyone else remember this car? Any footage or info online?
1933 Dymaxion Car (Score:5, Informative)
Re:A Tight Spot??? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:A Tight Spot??? (Score:2)
I think you're confusing the highly durable military grade Humvees against the vastly inferior (and overpriced) consumer edition. My sister-in-law was an army sgt. and says you could literally drive a mil-spec Humvee down a hill into a tree and the car would be fine. Attach a snorkel and the damn thing can go thru deep water. And up on top, you can mount a friggin' machine gun.
None of the above applies to the horrendously fragile
Lazy drivers (Score:5, Funny)
Just wait for the lawsuits to start... (Score:2, Insightful)
dom
Re:Just wait for the lawsuits to start... (Score:5, Informative)
So this really isn't all that much different from someone being run over by your average driver.
probably illegal (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Just wait for the lawsuits to start... (Score:3, Funny)
The article says that the driver is responsible for controlling the speed of the vehicle via the break pedal. :)
So THAT is why people are getting hurt. Hitting the break pedal instead of the brake pedal.
:) on with your own bad self.
Smarter cars (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Smarter cars (Score:3, Funny)
If you don't know what I'm talking about, think about this: If cars can park themselves what do they need humans for?
The answer is lots of things, but nevermind that. Anime and Asimov have taught us that autonomous machines will inevitably rise up against us, this self parking thing is just the first of several tiny robot steps into a dark, tentacle-rape filled fu
Re: (Score:2)
Smarter cars=Do your trust their software...? (Score:2)
Re:Smarter cars (Score:2)
This is not a contrived example. When many years ago I went to get my drivers' license someone else, a man about 30 years old, failed the test. He then proceeded to complain louldly: "How co
Re:Smarter cars (Score:2)
Imagine a driver who can't fashion a new engine bearing from with a coffee can and a tin snips, and can't fill an acetylene running lamp!
The horror!
Re:Smarter cars (Score:3, Insightful)
a) You can't eat/talk on a phone/shave/apply makeup etc nearly as easily when one hand is needed to shift. Obviously this isn't as true on the highway, but definitely for in-town driving.
b) You can't zone out and totally ignore the road, unless you like the roar of an engine banging against the rev limiter nonstop...
c) When you drive a manual transmission, you t
Re:Smarter cars (Score:5, Funny)
I think i missed the pressing need for emergency parallel parking skills.
Wow ... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Wow ... (Score:5, Insightful)
Of course, I suspect its been a long time since driver's ed taught any of that, since so few people seem to be completely ignorant on those issues. And dont even get me started on the idiots that turn right into the left lane without signalling, and then cruse along at 25MPH on the left lane while gabbing on their cellphone, completely oblivious to the line of traffic that has formed behind them thats actually trying to get where they are going.
Re:Wow ... (Score:5, Funny)
After that, we can deal with Miss "my kids are more important than everyone on this planet" who rockets through grocery store parking lots at 40 MPH in a 28 foot SUV terrifying everyone within 75 yards so she can pick up her dry cleaning 90 seconds earlier.
150 miles? (Score:2, Insightful)
Grandparent poster allow me to introduce you to the parent poster.
He's the idiot that thinks you should undertake him because 56 is a plenty fine cruising speed for the passing lane.
Please bitch slap him for all of us.
Re:150 miles? (Score:4, Funny)
You could be doing Mach 3 and there would still be some "I'm more important" assmunch following at a range of eight feet with their "mall parking lot searchlight" highbeams pulling 500 amps from the backup battery.
I don't get within 50 yards of the asshole lane. I'd rather not sail over a flood control channel with Captain SUV and four other cars in a fireball that would be visible from 30,000 feet. Thanks.
Re:Wow ... (Score:2)
Re:Wow ... (Score:2)
Also, in Canada left turn is allowed only into the leftmost lane; you move as necessary afterward.
Re:Wow ... (Score:2)
Re:Wow ... (Score:2)
Re:Wow ... (Score:2, Informative)
Also in California here, and I'd like to add that the GP was incorrect about passing lanes here as well. The left lane is the "fast lane", not the "passing lane", and if you are driving at the speed limit you are welcome to stay there as long as you'd like. I make a lot of long drives on two-lane highways along the coast where speed traps are prevalent and so are people who like driving 10-15 miles under the limit, so I cruise the en
Re:Wow ... (Score:5, Interesting)
tm
Re:Wow ... (Score:4, Interesting)
California state law [ca.gov] states:
21654. (a) Notwithstanding the prima facie speed limits, any
vehicle proceeding upon a highway at a speed less than the normal
speed of traffic moving in the same direction at such time shall be
driven in the right-hand lane for traffic or as close as practicable
to the right-hand edge or curb, except when overtaking and passing
another vehicle proceeding in the same direction or when preparing
for a left turn at an intersection or into a private road or
driveway.
(b) If a vehicle is being driven at a speed less than the normal
speed of traffic moving in the same direction at such time, and is
not being driven in the right-hand lane for traffic or as close as
practicable to the right-hand edge or curb, it shall constitute prima
facie evidence that the driver is operating the vehicle in violation
of subdivision (a) of this section.
(c) The Department of Transportation, with respect to state
highways, and local authorities, with respect to highways under their
jurisdiction, may place and maintain upon highways official signs
directing slow-moving traffic to use the right-hand traffic lane
except when overtaking and passing another vehicle or preparing for a
left turn.
Asshole.
Re:Wow ... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Wow ... (Score:5, Informative)
DON'T brake hard at the last second, especially when approaching an intersection. It makes other people at the intersection nervous.
DO pay attention to traffic lights, especially when first in line. React promptly when they change.
DON'T attempt to perform a task that requires the continuous use of one or both hands. (Using a phone, eating, shaving, etc.)
DON'T follow closely, especially at high speed. During normal traffic flow on the highway, you shouldn't need to use the brakes. If you are braking periodically to avoid running into the back of the car in front of you, then you are too close.
DON'T use the horn when stopped in heavy traffic. It's not because someone forgot to continue driving that traffic isn't moving, so reminding them won't help.
DO pull off in a safe place to consult a map (or ask for directions) when unfamiliar with an area. Do NOT simply drive very slowly while searching for your destination.
DO drive with appropriate equipment in adverse weather conditions. Summer tires on a rear-wheel-drive car in the snow is a hazard to yourself and other drivers.
Colorado and Florida (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Wow ... (Score:2)
With the US so sue-happy this is a series of law-suits waiting to happen. Even when people don't have it engaged and screw up who are they going to say did it? Themselves or the device? The driver may be responsible for hitting the gas pedal but when you introduce a degree of fault by having the car control the steering you're looking for trouble.
Wait for the 90 degree wheels. I seem to rememb
Re:Wow ... (Score:2)
Here in the suburbs of Southern California you almost never have to parallel park. Once every few years. I learned when I started driving but in the intervening decades I have forgotten. Why should we have to learn a skill that is so rarely useful to us?
It's a matter of context.
Liability issues (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Liability issues (Score:3, Insightful)
In related news... (Score:5, Funny)
This involves the finely-tuned process of randomly selecting an article from two days ago, changing a few words around, and clicking "Submit."
Come to think of it, this has been going on for quite some time now.
Who's liable for screwups? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Who's liable for screwups? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Who's liable for screwups? (Score:5, Insightful)
No.
Re:Who's liable for screwups? (Score:3, Insightful)
Look up. Way, way up there the point passed over your head. The point was that automated systems don't absolve you of the responsibility of driving. If you have cruise control engaged and that would lead to a collision, it's your responsibility to hit the brakes. If you have auto park engaged and that would lead to a collision, it's your responsibility to hit the brakes.
How soon? (Score:5, Funny)
Almost a good solution ... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Almost a good solution ... (Score:2)
Re:Almost a good solution ... (Score:2)
(Posted in wrong place the first time
Great, the last qualification.... (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Great, the last qualification.... (Score:2)
Re:Great, the last qualification.... (Score:2)
progress? (Score:2)
Re:progress? (Score:2)
Sorry, I had to :)
Does it work the other way around? (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent Poster has a good point (Score:3, Interesting)
But along comes some asshole who turns that tight spot into an impossible spot by parking in front of / behind you without leaving enough room for you to get out comfortably. More often than not, you're not going to find the person to ask them to please move their car - or p
Here is a video (Score:3, Informative)
Shows a BMW parking itself
tight ? (Score:2, Redundant)
Parking meter... (Score:2, Interesting)
Obligatory (Score:3, Funny)
In Soviet Russia, you parallel park cars!
Autovalet (Score:5, Interesting)
Already exists (Score:5, Funny)
Amazingly public transport companies park their vehicles outside the city as well. Not many bus depots in the city centers.
Oh and taxi's also serve a similar function. I believe they paint them yellow over there instead of the normal black that civilized people use.
While your idea sounds nice it has just one small drawback. If you equip every car with it you have just doubled the traffic in and out of the city center. Your car driving you to your work and then driving itself out to a parking lot. The last thing busy cities need is more traffic.
Oh and an other version of truly "self parking" cars? Getting a ride with a co-worker. Drops me off in front of the office. All it costs is to make two cups of coffee.
Not a Palanquin (Score:2)
Subways don't stop at your building, though mine does have a station in the basement. Subways also don't have a sunroof, swing by your girlfriend's place, wait outside the deli. They do have lots of strangers, often rude and even smelly. They make you wait for up to half an hour in the middle of the night. And you can't race the other guy.
Taxis usually don't let you race the other guy, either. They often come with rude an
Re:Autovalet (Score:3, Insightful)
Out here, we call that a taxi. There are even bigger vehicles available, which run on fixed routes and are called buses. And then we also have trains. Perhaps you need to explore alternatives?
Re:Autovalet (Score:2)
And oil is for plastic, not burning.
Lose control? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Lose control? (Score:3, Insightful)
New vehicle technology always sounds scary, but eventually you'll wonder how you ever survived without it. ABS, anyone?
Re:Lose control? (Score:2)
Re:Lose control? (Score:2)
Re:Lose control? (Score:2)
I guess for some people (Score:2)
So, if you know someone who gets a car like that, would you trust that person with your car?
Will this feature be allowed in driving tests?
Re:I guess for some people (Score:2)
Re:I guess for some people (Score:2)
Re:I guess for some people (Score:3, Insightful)
Sure you can. But is the owner of the car ahead of you (or behind you) just as skilled as you are?
Myself, I don't remember when I used parallel parking last time. Must be sometime around 1998, most likely. There isn't much need for this skill here.
Re:I guess for some people (Score:3, Interesting)
I don't believe you. Unless you're on a motorbike, or have the ability to move your card sideways. Or have a car under 1m wide.
Why? Simple mathematics. As soon as your car is more than 1 metre wide it's length across the diagonal is at least 10cm longer than its long front to back. So it physically wont fit in the gap to get out.
You're right - the computer wont be able to achieve that. Computers are constrained to the possible.
Great.. (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Great.. (Score:2)
the person to blame here is the kid, for standing in a parking spot
$700 for a self parking system...?? (Score:2, Funny)
Great... (Score:5, Interesting)
I remeber reading an article recently that put people with high end, well kitted out cars in cars with NO driver aids and subjected them to a few tests such as skid pans and high speed maneuvres(sp?!) - the results were fairly predictable. Most were so used to the features that automatically kicked in when they did something stupid that when faced with a car that didn't have them, they had NO idea what was going on and lost control in all circumstances.
I personally feel that there needs to be more driver education and less dependence on these driver aids! I appreciate they might be important in an accident of course but not all circumstances where driver aids may be used could be classed as accidents!
Re:Great... (Score:4, Insightful)
Yes... just like a calculator is another 'convinience' for people who are clearly far too STUPID to do math.
Insurance Rates.. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Road Test (Score:2)
We'll probably see that technology when they successfully adapt the asteroid dodging technology they used on the space shuttles in Armageddon.
*Beep beep beep*
*WHUMP*
"...what was that?"
"Pedestrian."
"Oh."
Re:Most new drivers suck (Score:2, Informative)
Most of the people with those 'fart machines' just put a toner on their exhaust, not really accomplishing much of all. Don't judge japanese sports cars based on how most of them look (fools with body kits, NOS stickers, and wing-size spoilers).
Though, some japanese sports cars ARE a bit better than american sports cars: Lighter bodies, higher revving engines, and better handling. Try comparing the handling and acceleration
Re:Most new drivers suck (Score:2)
Re:As one of the first inventors of self parking c (Score:2)
Damit where are my mod points when I need them!