The VW Group wants your future car to park and charge on its own, if it is electric of course.

The Group is actively developing the V-Charge Research Project, in conjunction with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Bosch and other national and international partners. The focus of the project is automating the search of a parking space and -if the vehicle is electric- the charging process.

The project, named V-Charge, will allow cars to independently find an empty spot and park themselves, with the driver exiting the car from the main entrance of the facility and giving the orders from a smartphone app. The most promising part of the project is that the systems that allow the autonomous function of the car are made out of sensors and cameras available today.

The technology does not require GPS positioning as a 3D map of the parking place is sent to the vehicle and the system uses natural location markers from the fitted cameras, letting the car know its exact position. The system uses 4 wide-angle cameras, two stereo ones and twelve ultra-sound sensors, giving the vehicle the ability to map its environment, recognizing any obstacles or even pedestrians reliably according to Volkswagen.

The project also includes the ability for electric vehicles to drive themselves on automated charging stations. Once fully-charged, the electric vehicles clear the charging bay and park on a regular parking spot.

I don’t know what’s more fascinating, the fact that the sensors required for this kind of robotized parking/charging are already available or the idea of a parking garage filled with unmanned vehicles traveling around, looking for empty spaces.

What do you think?

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