From 360-degree camera to sensors: Technologies that make car parking easy
Many people love to drive cars but find it tiresome when it comes to parking their vehicles, especially in tight parking spots in the cities, where the vehicular population is high and the availability of parking spaces is scarce. Parking in a tight spot requires a fair amount of calculation taking into account factors such as the dimensions of your vehicle, space available, distance from other parked vehicles etc. It is sort of a struggle for many while parking a car and even the most skilled drivers too experience difficulties at times.
However, with the increasing penetration of technologies in the form of driving aid features, manoeuvring and parking a vehicle through a tight spot is becoming easier. Automakers are increasingly offering a wide range of features aided by advanced technology to make sure you easily navigate through the laborious process of car parking in a tight spot.
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Here are some features that have made car parking easy for drivers.
The 360-degree camera is one of the increasingly popular features in modern cars. It comes as one of the most important safety features. The 360-degree camera offers a bird's eye view of the vehicle's surroundings, making parking and manoeuvring convenient. This system comprises multiple cameras that are strategically installed around the vehicle, which can be pulled up for individual feeds of a particular viewing angle or a complete 360-degree feed from the top or other angles, depending on the system. Some luxury SUVs like Land Rover Range Rover come with an extra underbody camera system christened ClearSight ground vision, which offers the view of the ground surface under the bonnet.
Parking sensors are the most used form of park assist technologies in vehicles. This feature is available in even the entry-level variants of most affordable cars as well. Besides that, it can be installed from the aftermarket. The rear parking sensors are the most common form of these sensors, while there are front parking sensors too available in some cars. These sensors rely on audio alerts to relay information to the driver about any hindering object that may create obstacles for the vehicle. These sensors start emitting high pitch audio alerts when the vehicle is being parked, depending on the distance between the car and the object. The sound intensifies with a narrowing distance between the vehicle and the object.
Essentially, the working principle of this feature is the same as parking sensors, but it offers a visual aid to the driver. The rear or front parking cameras are another feature available in an increasing number of modern cars. In the cars equipped with 360-degree cameras, it comes as an integral part of that. The rear or front parking camera offers a live feed of the rear or front of the vehicle, respectively, providing a helpful visual assessment of surface conditions, objects, available space and surroundings. These cameras often show the feed along with dynamic guidelines that provide an accurate representation of the expected angle and space the car is going to occupy. While the majority of the modern cars come equipped with this feature, in entry-level variants of many cars the feature remains missing but can be installed from aftermarket.
