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Toyota Offers Automatic Parallel Parking Option
dstone writes "For drivers who can't parallel park very well, relief is available in Japan. Toyota Motor Corp. is offering a $2,200 option package for its Prius (a gas-electric hybrid car) that includes a computer imaging system which stuffs your car into parallel parking spaces on demand. The driver must manually initiate the process and control the brakes while the car steers in reverse. Some might say if you can't master parallel parking, perhaps you shouldn't be driving. However, the article at Modbee.com points out that in Japan, streets are jammed and parallel parking spaces can be ruthlessly small. 80% of Prius customers have opted for this package. But will the car plug the meter when I run out of time?"
Free up some of that driving time for important things like cell-phoning, child-swatting, and make up-applying.
I have been pwned because my
Finally, there's hope for women!
I'd settle for it berating ticket-writing meter maids when I run out of time.
I can't parallel park for shit. I need a space before the empty space I'm pulling in to, and even then, I rarely get it in there nice and tight. In a pinch I can pull it off.
I kind of feel shame about it!
responding to an invisible hand
What has economics got to do with it?
"Park in that parking bay, Pirus"
"I'm sorry, Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that... and my air-conditioning unit needs replacing..."
(car runs over driver after geting out)
Sorry... had to be said...
Does this make my brain look big?
I could have used that on my driver's test. I was doing great on my driving test until I got to the parallel parking bit.
Picture this, an empty suburban street. Just one car parked on the road. All I have to do is park behind it. 10 min later, my car is about 6 feet away from the curb, at a 30 degree angle.
The woman giving me the test looked over the brim of her glasses and said, ``You want to try that again honey?''
I wanted to say no, because I was actually rather proud of how close I had gotten that time.
But, I tried again, with the same result.
``Why don't we move on.'' She said.
In the end, she passed me, but with the words, ``You're a very cautious driver, but the worst parallel parker I've seen in my entire career.''
--
In London? Need a Physics Tutor?
American Weblog in London
I happen to have a Toyota. But I've applied Occam's Razor to the problem. When I need to get the thing into a tight spot, I just kinda put my shoulder into it and nudge it sideways.
Two thousand bucks my !@#$. These things weight 100, 120lbs, tops...
My
Limekiller
Some might say if you can't master parallel parking, perhaps you shouldn't be driving.
Let's hope not. *pats driver's license*
Software Wars
How dare you! Men have just as much right as women to chat on cell phones, swat at their children, and apply make up!
Women are fully capable of driving as well as a man--
Yeah, but they don't.
(And yes, I realize your post was satirical.)
Actually, the only sexism here is in your post. Nice try, but try again. :)
He did *not* say "Bitches need mo' time fo' talkin' on their cells, slapping the ho' kids, and puttin' on make up." :)
heading for that -1 Troll mod again
Like what I said? You might like my music
The French have a much simpler low tech answer to the problem.
Everybody leaves there parking brake off, then, the car parking nudges the already parked cars along to make a big enough space.
Anyone foolish enough to actually engage the parking brake gets dented both ends.
Old COBOL programmers never die. They just code in C.
This would make my job as a valet a bit easier :D
"where words meet intent, lies rhetoric's lament"
Don't know about you, but I praise power steering every day :)
I can see this option being very popular with the parkingly challenged (trying to be politically correct) gender. It should also make their non-gender-specified spouses happy as it will mean less dings and scratches.
It's serial parking that's hard.
Fuck the system? Nah, you might catch something.
Only on Slashdot is parallel parking described in terms of an "entrance vector."
irb(main):001:0>
Just buy a winch for your SUV. Then you're never out of room.
Here
If you don't want to repeat the past, stop living in it.