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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
Still interesting and all but old as the hills. The technology is even older than Toyota's products as well, handicapped conventions have had similar systems for years.
vampirical
Alot of the cars now come with a sensor that alrets the driver when aproaching the the car behind. Couldnt the automatic parking system make use of this? and therefore fully automate the process.
I know nothing about lawsuits in Japan, so this may not be a factor.
But when I read the article (bad slashdotter, BAD!) and came to the part that said 'there is no onboard object recognition, so there is nothing that is going to stop you from running over something in the parking space.' I thought, oooohhhh boy.
I don't think this will make it to the US for this reason. If it does, then the first time someone runs over someone elses dog all hell is gonna break loose. People are gonna be saying that it is in fact Toyota's fault that they ran over the dog.
Stupid lawsuits, stupid people.
Come to think of it wew may never get that feature in the US no matter how good of a job they do.
Lets say a company does make a decent object recognition package for the car, is it possible for them to actually be 100 percent sure that the car will recognize an object in 100 percent of situations that come along?
Cause as soon as that figure moves to 99 percent then some doofushead is gonna argue that the object recognition feature takes the responsibility of running something over out of there hands and into the car manufacturers hands.
Nah, we will never see it on our shores.
"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?
Its bloody hard to parallel park when your pissed :)
Seriously, this is just one step closer to the car that drives itself - its going to take a long time for the public and the laws to allow this to happen, but eventually it will happen.
You can't expect to wield supreme executive power, just because some watery tart threw a sword at you
How dare you! Men have just as much right as women to chat on cell phones, swat at their children, and apply make up!
Truth is, a lot of drivers out there are probably a hazard to the rest of us, but anything that assists them and makes them less of a hazard is a good thing in my opinion.
Just because you're good at parallel parking, manual shifting, and using a command line doesn't mean that anyone who can't do those things well is inferior.