New app can park a car in tight spaces

German electronics company Bosch has unveiled a new app that allows drivers to get out of their cars to guide the vehicle into a parking space.

Drivers who struggle to reverse into tight parking spaces could soon find an answer to their problem - in an app that can park a car.

An automatic parking assist system, unveiled by German electronics company Bosch, allows a driver to get out of the car then guide it into the parking space by swiping a virtual image on their smartphone.

Sensors in the car scan the parking space as the driver passes by, then, with the driver inside the car or outside, either reverses into a parking bay or parallel parks on the side of a road.

Bosch revealed the app at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

The firm also showed how car users will be able to make hands-free calls and enter driving directions using just their voices, while sensor technology will also help users park their cars themselves and stay in lane on motorways.

Bosch Chairman Werner Struth has already said he believes driverless cars will be a reality but they will arrive gradually, with this driver assistance technology marking the first step.

The parking technology can be used in any car as long as it has the capability to allow control of the steering and gears. It will be available in 2015.

Bosch engineering manager Fred Sejalon said: "This is good for everybody, especially for parking in a traffic situation or anybody who doesn't feel comfortable parallel or perpendicular parking, especially when the visibility is limited.

"There is a lot of hype about autonomous driving and that is a stepping stone in that direction."


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Source: AAP



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