Germany’s Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) has approved the commercial use of an automated parking system designed by Bosch and Mercedes-Benz.
The system can be used in the P6 parking garage run by APCOA at Stuttgart Airport, making it the world’s first SAE Level 4 automated driverless parking function be approved for commercial use.
Markus Schäfer, Member of the Board of Management of Mercedes-Benz Group AG said:The world’s first approval for customer use of our highly automated and driverless parking function, developed together with our technology partner Bosch, shows that innovation leadership and ‘Made in Germany’ go hand in hand. Following the market launch of our DRIVE PILOT Level 3 system, we will soon be offering a Level 4 system for parking with our INTELLIGENT PARK PILOT – all of that this year. We really are showing our customers how technology can make life easier and give back precious time.
The automated valet parking feature does not require a driver, enabling users to drive into the parking garage, get out of their car, and send the vehicle to a parking space using a smartphone app. Upon collection, the driver can once again use the app to call their car.
Throughout this process, Mercedes-Benz’s automotive technology interacts with intelligent infrastructure supplied by Bosch in the parking garage.
The Bosch sensors monitor the surroundings and provide the necessary information to guide the vehicle. The technology in the vehicle then converts this information into driving manoeuvres.
Markus Heyn, Member of the Bosch Board of Management said;Driverless parking is a key aspect of automated mobility. The highly automated parking system we developed together with our partner Mercedes-Benz shows just how far we’ve already progressed along this development path. It will be with driverless parking that everyday automated driving will start. From the outset, Bosch has taken the approach of making the infrastructure in parking garages intelligent. Accordingly, we have set standards in this area. In the future, our aim is to equip more and more parking garages with the necessary infrastructure technology – we plan to do several hundred of them worldwide in the next few years.
In 2019, Bosch and Mercedes-Benz obtained the world’s first permit to operate automated valet parking using development vehicles in the parking garage of the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart. This latest approval now exceeds this achievement by allowing commercial operation with privately owned vehicles.
The service will now allow customers who drive S-Class and EQS vehicles with the INTELLIGENT PARK PILOT2 feature to use automated parking at Stuttgart Airport.
