Mercedes And Bosch To Trial Autonomous Valet Parking At Stuttgart Airport

Mercedes-Benz is going to test an automated valet parking (AVP) system co-developed with Bosch at Stuttgart’s main airport.

The trial will be conducted at the airport’s P6 parking garage and involve Mercedes-Benz S-Class models equipped with the available Intelligent Park Pilot system. The aim is to test how the parking features of the S-Class interact with the intelligent Bosch infrastructure and APCOA FLOW, the digital platform used by parking garage operator Apcoa.

Mercedes-Benz’s Intelligent Park Pilot for the S-Class works alongside the AVP technology, making it the first production vehicle of its kind and providing it with the ability to park without a driver.

Read Also: Daimler Believes New W223 Mercedes S-Class Can At Least Match Predecessor In Terms Of Sales

The trial will include a spacious drop-off and pick-up area that will allow users to leave their vehicles. As they make their way to the airport terminal, the S-Class models will automatically park themselves in the basement, guided by information from the infrastructure technology. The initial trial will have two spaces available for self-parking vehicles with the plan to add more spaces when driverless parking becomes more common.

“Automated valet parking really enhances our passengers’ comfort and convenience and saves them time, especially when they’re in a hurry and just want to drop their car off quickly at the airport,” management spokesman for Flughafen Stuttgart, Walter Schoefer, said.

The parking garage includes Bosch video cameras that identify vacant parking spaces, monitor the driving isle and its surroundings and detect objects and people. A dedicated control center in the parking garage then calculates the route the vehicles need to take to reach an available space. The in-vehicle technology of the S-Class then converts the information it receives into driving maneuvers.