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The Park4U™ system takes care of the most complicated maneuver in urban driving: parking.
Take your hands off the wheel, keep your eyes on the road!
The Park4U™ system parks the vehicle parallel to the curb automatically in a few seconds. After it detects a sufficiently large parking slot, it controls the vehicle’s steering while the driver controls the vehicle’s speed and braking.
The simple process of finding a parking slot is begun by pressing the Park4U™ button. Lateral sensors scan both sides of the street and measure the length of empty parking slots. When sufficient space is detected, that is say, the vehicle length plus 70 centimeters at the front and rear, the driver is informed by an indicator. The driver then continues to drive forward until a “Start Position” message is displayed. The driver then simply puts the vehicle in reverse and releases the steering wheel. The accelerator and brake remain under the control of the driver, who can stop and continue the vehicle’s maneuver at any time. The parking sensors also inform the driver if there are any objects in the vehicle’s trajectory, and the driver is then responsible for deciding whether he or she must stop the vehicle. The end of the parking operation is defined by shifting out of reverse, and if the vehicle is not aligned correctly, the steering wheels are turned towards the curb automatically and the rest of the maneuver is carried out by the driver.
A representative study executed by an independent market research institute has proven that Park4U™ makes parking comfortable for all drivers and is easy to use. At the end more than 2/3 of the participants stated strong or very strong interest in buying the system.
Park4U™ is compatible with either manual or automatic gearboxes, and is currently marketed as “Park Assist” in the Volkswagen Touran and Cross-Touran and shortly in the Tiguan.
Valeo will launch the second generation of Park4U™ in 2009. This updated version will be able to park the vehicle in a parking slot only one meter longer than the vehicle’s length. Additionally, the updated system will not only guide the vehicle in a single reversing movement but will also allow the use of several forward and reverse movements by means of a more sophisticated trajectory calculation. In a future version, the system will also be able to steer the vehicle out of its parking place. To do so, it will measure the position of the different obstacles when starting off and turn the steering wheels.
If the vehicle is already fitted with front and rear parking sensors, only two additional sensors need to be added, in the front wings of the vehicle. These are used to detect how much parking space is available. Although identical ultrasonic technology is utilized, their characteristics differ in being optimized for the new task. However they also supplement the four existing front sensors improving the standard park assist function.
While the actual measurement is executed simultaneous on both vehicle sides, the side displayed to the driver is defined by which indicator is activated. The lateral sensor determines the start and end of a parking space by detecting the edges of the surrounding vehicles’ bumpers. If the sidewalk is high enough, it too is detected, and the measurement will determine the maneuver’s required depth. If there is no sidewalk, the control unit calculates a trajectory in which the roadside depth aligns the vehicle with the vehicle parked in front of it.
The trajectory is calculated by the electronic control unit already used by the Park Assist system, which means that no additional control unit is required. Park4U™ only requires steering that can be controlled during the maneuver, effectively demanding electric power assisted steering. The system communicates with the vehicle’s other electronic systems via a high-speed CAN bus.
Several actions can stop the automatic parking process for safety reasons. When searching for a parking slot, the speed must not exceed 30 kph and the distance between the vehicle and parked vehicles must be between 50 and 150 centimeters. When parking, the automatic parking maneuver is interrupted if the speed exceeds 7 kph or the driver overrides the steering. There is also a 3-minute time limit for the parking operation, starting from the beginning of the maneuver. In addition, the system cannot be activated if the vehicle's Electronic Stability Program (ESP) is deactivated or a trailer is hitched to the vehicle.
© Copyright Valeo Management Services 2008
