Germany – Bosch and APCOA have announced plans to install automated valet parking technology in 15 additional parking garages across Germany. The infrastructure-based, automated and driverless SAE Level 4 parking system will be rolled out in cities such as Hamburg, Berlin, Cologne, Frankfurt, and Munich, with work set to begin in 2023. The companies will initially make up to four parking spaces per garage ready for automated valet parking, with the aim of expanding the number of spaces in the future.
This is the first step towards a worldwide market launch of automated valet parking, with the goal of equipping several hundred parking garages across the globe with the technology in the coming years. Germany is one of the few countries to have already passed the Level 4 legislation that creates a framework for systems such as automated valet parking. Other countries such as France are expected to follow.
With the automated valet parking solution, customers will be able to park their vehicles in a handover zone near the entrance of a parking garage and use an app to start the highly automated and driverless parking service. The technology is based on Bosch stereo cameras which identify vacant parking spaces, monitor the driving aisle and its surroundings and detect obstacles or people in the aisle. If an unexpected obstacle is detected, the vehicle brakes and safely comes to a stop. The smart technology installed in the parking garage keeps the technical requirements in the vehicle to a minimum, making the automated and driverless valet parking service available to all vehicles.
“Germany is only the beginning – we’re expecting to soon be able to gradually roll out automated valet parking in other countries around the world as well, once the corresponding laws have been passed,” says Claudia Barthle, who heads up global software and service sales in the Cross-Domain Computing Solutions division at Bosch and is responsible for the partnership with APCOA.
