Mercedes showcases how its EVs will be able to valet park themselves in future

Mercedes-Benz, together with Bosch offered a glimpse into the future of electric vehicles where they will be able to valet themselves. At a recent event in downtown Los Angeles, the carmaker demonstrated its Intelligent Park Pilot feature using an EQS 580. It showed how a driver could pull up, exit the vehicle, and activate the automated valet using an app.

The vision of this technology is that the driver parks the vehicle in a designated drop-off area at the multi-storey car park and starts the parking procedure via a smartphone app. When the app confirms that the control of the vehicle has been taken over by the Automated Valet Parking infrastructure, the driver can leave the car parking area.

The vehicle is then started automatically and it drives on its own to its reserved parking space guided by the sensors in the car park. If it happens to encounter any obstacles such as pedestrians or other vehicles, it stops in front of it. Upon return, the driver can hail the vehicle via a simple smartphone command. It then drives to a designated pick-up area.

The temporary installation at the InterContinental featured Lidar infrastructure developed by Bosch, helped safely guide the driverless EQS from the arrival lane to a designed charging spot. “Our vision is that getting time back is a key component of the luxury experience our customers are looking for," said Philipp Skogstad, President & CEO of Mercedes-Benz Research & Development North America.

Alongside necessary infrastructural equipment, the Mercedes EQS is already equipped with the onboard technology to navigate the Bosch Automated Valet system, which allows it to enter and exit multi-story facilities like parking garages. For this temporary demonstration, both the companies used portable Lidar sensors on the ground.