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Following the trend of human control giving way to automation, BMW has developed an automated parking system that lets its vehicles park themselves. With a push of a button, your Beamer will slot itself into the garage while you watch from outside. The Mercedes S-Class and some Lexus models also have parking assistance systems, but the driver must remain in the vehicle in order to use them. According to Wired News, BMW plans to make remote control parking available within 3 years.
To set up the system, youll install a reflective lens against the wall at the head of the parking space. A cam mounted on your BMWs front windshield will measure the distance and angle of the car relative to the lens. The car uses information from the sensors to calculate an entry trajectory, then navigates the vehicle into its parking spot.
This advanced parking assistance system builds on existing BMW technology such as park distance control , which uses ultrasonic sensors to help you judge the distance from your car to other cars and to unseen objects when youre parking. Parking assistance will use the same sensors to brake and steer around objects in the cars trajectory.