Since 2006 self-parking cars have hit the market with the Lexus LS460, and now iterations from Toyota, BMW, Volkswagen, Mercedes Benz and Ford have emerged. Here is a list of the top five self-parking cars, with a couple videos of them working, and one of it not. Unfortunately, because these systems work on radar, getting them to crash is near impossible, so no fun crashing videos.
5. BMW
Directed mainly at the European market, BMW’s park assist focuses only on a parallel parking option. In the video, however, it doesn’t quite seem to work as intended. The option of Remote Park Assist allows you to get out the car and have the car park itself in a garage. This helps if you need to park in a narrow parking, but what about getting back in?
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4. Lexus LS460
Lexus was the first to offer the self-park system for its cars. The problem though is that its target customers were the old and wealthy. Not many other people would buy such a gargantuan vehicle, or would need as much help parking their cars. With such a large vehicle, however, finding a suitable parking where the system judges that it has enough space is not easy. It works, but only if you know how to work it.
3. Volkswagen
Unlike the Lexus, where it takes a lot of small movements to manoeuvre the vehicle into a parking, the VW system uses one fluid movement. The problem here is that if the car deems that it cannot fit into a parking in one movement, it will not even try.
2. Toyota Prius
No, the Prius is not higher on the list because it is super good for the environment (in some ways it’s actually very much the opposite). It is because the system that Toyota uses is not just for parallel parking, but can be used for any parking type. Also, it is simple to use. Once it finds a parking, you just press one button and in it goes. If only it didn’t talk to you while it did so.
1. Ford Focus
Probably the most comprehensive system, Ford’s Park Assist uses more than one action to park the vehicle and is super simple to use. It has implemented it on most vehicles, and the Focus is probably the cheapest vehicle to offer parking assistance. Simple and cheap, the Ford also has size on its side, making finding a parking that much easier.
We all love cool, lazy automatic systems that do the things that we don’t want to. But lets be honest, these systems only work for enormous parking spots and are designed for people that can’t park. The average driver would be able to find way more parking spots then any of these assistance systems, and could get into those spots way faster.
