No one has perfect parking skills. Whether you spend long amounts of time searching for parking on crowded streets, ding doors when getting out of our vehicles, or just can't park in a straight line—there is always the inherent human factor that makes for judgment issues. If you happen to have a Mercedes vehicle with the right driver assist features, you'll be in luck next time you visit the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart.
This isn't a new concept, as Mercedes has been working on this technology for quite some time. However, the fully autonomous aspect of what Mercedes is calling its "automated valet" is something that has yet to be seen in a public setting. Given that nearly every country has laws that prohibit fully-autonomous (Level 5) driving, the pure driverless aspect of Mercedes' parking tech shows just how far along we are in self-driving vehicle technology to trust our cars in such a densely populated environment.
So just how does it work? If you have a compatible vehicle, which at minimum should be any current-year E-Class car, you can simply pull up to the front door at the Mercedes museum in Stuttgart and pull up an app on your phone. You exit the vehicle, tell the car to go park itself, and walk inside. The car will find an open spot and park itself, all while avoiding any obstacles it finds along the way. When you're ready to leave, simply tell the car to come pick you up, and it will meet you at the door—just like a valet.
As more and more of daily life becomes automated, we find ourselves asking just how fast will this technology be rolled out elsewhere. Though this is currently an unknown, the biggest players in the variable are governmental regulations and how fast the technology can support the rapidly changing world around us. Nevertheless, seeing this type of technology reinforces a statement that Elon musk said best, "Robots will be able to do everything better than us"
According to Daimler, the automated valet service will begin public operation in 2018.