Premiere at the IAA Mobility 2021: the future of parking is autonomous

The German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) will present the joint driverless parking project “Automated Valet Parking” (AVP) during the IAA Mobility 2021 in Munich. In the future, parking garages fitted with special technology will be able to carry out the entire task of parking vehicles. The VDA and its ten project partners are publicly unveiling the technical interaction of a large number of vehicle manufacturers and infrastructure providers. The AVP demonstrations will take place several times a day in Munich’s “Messe West” car park.

The demonstrations will show how the sensor technology in the parking garage takes over control of the vehicle in order to manage the traffic. They will also showcase driverless autonomous parking and various automated vehicle services such as washing and loading while the vehicle is in the parking garage, plus automated return of the vehicle to its driver.

Partners in the project are the vehicle makers BMW, CARIAD (the automotive software-subsidiary in the Volkswagen Group, with the brands Audi, Porsche and VW), Ford Werke GmbH, Jaguar Land Rover and Mercedes-Benz. They are joined by the technology and infrastructure providers Bosch, Continental, Valeo, the Leipzig startup Kopernikus Automotive and the Finnish deep tech company Unikie. 

“Automated parking relies on a smart infrastructure in the parking garage, which includes the necessary sensor systems and cloud-based IT. Secure communication between the garage infrastructure and the vehicle enables the latter to maneuver safely in and out of the parking spot,” explains Joachim Damasky, Managing Director of the VDA.

The project aims to create the technological basis for future vehicles from various manufacturers to communicate with different infrastructures to allow the execution of automated, driverless vehicle movements. This would also help in optimizing the use of the available parking space.

To this end, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is preparing an international standard, ISO 23374. It will ensure that the AVP function works properly between the necessary actors, i.e. the different vehicle OEMs and the providers of technological equipment and infrastructure.

The VDA’s pioneering joint project unites the expertise of several project partners. “A parking infrastructure designed for automation includes the necessary technology both in the vehicle and in the parking environment, so that routes can be calculated and all the security requirements are satisfied,” Damasky explains. “Technical units are used for communicating with the vehicle and a cloud connection allows interaction with the backend system.”

For effective interaction with the sensors in the infrastructure, the vehicles must have automatic transmission, ESP, an electric parking brake, assisted steering and a smart communication unit for Automated Valet Parking. More and more future models will be suitably equipped, which will help accelerate universal introduction of driverless parking based on a smart infrastructure.

The infrastructure providers connect the vehicles and certain areas in the garage by means of specific sensors. This enables a smart parking garage infrastructure in concert with the OEMs, which detects the vehicle’s position in AVP mode in the various demonstration areas, steers it without a driver, and keeps a look-out to avoid potential collisions.

“Both technology and standardization have now matured sufficiently for Automated Valet Parking to provide a reliable, automated parking and collection service. Parking yourself could soon be a thing of the past in many places,” says Joachim Damasky. “At the IAA we are demonstrating that AVP for vehicles from several manufacturers and various infrastructures is a reality and will soon become part of everyday life. That is another milestone on the path to autonomous driving and the mobility of the future.