Bosch infrastructure combined with Daimler vehicle technology means cars can now be parked and retrieved without a driver at the Mercedes-Benz Museum parking garage in Stuttgart.
The partners see approval by authorities in Baden-Wuerttemberg as a milestone on the road to automated driving: the automated valet parking service is accessed via a smartphone app and requires no safety driver.
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This makes it the world’s first fully automated driverless SAE Level 4 parking function to be officially approved for everyday use.
“This decision by the authorities shows that innovations like automated valet parking are possible in Germany first,” said Bosch’s Markus Heyn.
“Driverless driving and parking are important building blocks for tomorrow’s mobility. The automated parking system shows just how far we have already progressed along this development path.”
Michael Hafner, head of drive technologies and automated driving at Daimler, added: “As a pioneer in automated driving, our project paves the way for automated valet parking to go into mass production in the future.”
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By GlobalDataNo official approval process for automated driving functions that do not require a driver exists yet in Germany so local authorities – the Stuttgart regional administrative authority and the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg’s transportation ministry – oversaw the project along with German technical inspection service TUV Rheinland representatives.
They developed a comprehensive safety concept with appropriate testing and approval criteria that can be applied beyond this pilot project.
Developers defined how the driverless vehicle detects pedestrians and other cars in its path and reliably comes to a halt when it encounters an obstacle and also set up secure communications between all system components and took steps to ensure the reliable activation of the parking manoeuvre.
Once the driver has activated the system by smartphone and left the parking garage, the car drives itself to an assigned space and parks. Later, it returns to the drop-off point.
The process relies on an intelligent parking garage infrastructure supplied by Bosch and Mercedes-Benz technology.
Bosch sensors in the parking garage monitor the driving corridor and its surroundings and provide the information needed to guide the vehicle. The car converts the commands from the infrastructure into driving manoeuvres. If the sensors detect an obstacle, the vehicle stops immediately.
Bosch and Daimler started developing driverless parking in 2015 and showed off the technology in mid 2017, with and without drivers at the wheel, followed by intensive testing.
Starting in 2018, museum visitors could use the parking service live, accompanied by trained safety personnel, and share their experience. One aspect of the pilot project involved testing lighting concepts on the vehicles. Turquoise lighting indicates that a vehicle is in automated driving mode and informs passers-by and other road users that the vehicle is driving itself.
The insights from these tests are reflected in the recently issued SAE standard 3134.
Daimler has also been experimenting with driverless cars in its own factories with the goal of having completed cars driver to storage lots and park themselves.
