Automated parking is made possible thanks to an intelligent infrastructure in the car park and a vehicle control unit from Bosch in conjunction with the newest generation of Mercedes-Benz on-board sensors and the car sharing expertise of car2go. This enables automated manoeuvering in appropriately equipped parking garages in the near future.

"Fully automated parking will be ready for mass-production before fully automated driving", said Dr. Dirk Hoheisel, the responsible Board Member of Bosch. "Low driving speeds and the information from the car park infrastructure enable a fast implementation."

The scenario is conceivably simple, as soon as the user is ready in the pick-up zone of the car park, the car drives up independently and the ride can begin.

Returning the car is just as comfortable. The customer parks it in the drop-zone of the car park and returns the car via his/her smartphone. The intelligent system of the car park registers the vehicle, starts it, and directs it to an assigned parking space. 

Bosch is developing the necessary infrastructure for the car park, including parking space occupancy sensors, cameras and the communication technology. Furthermore, Bosch will account for the communication unit in the vehicle, which also controls the parking process and defines together with Daimler the interface with existing vehicle components.

Daimler will adjust the sensor systems and the software in the car2go vehicles and enables future innovation leaps for the car sharing model of car2go.