03.02.06 | Parking your car will be much easier in the future – now that Siemens has developed a system known as Park Mate, which takes over control of the steering wheel and guides the vehicle into a parking space. In fact, the electronics even take care of finding the space. The new electronic assistant takes the stress and the risk of accidents out of the process of parking. It has already attracted a great deal of interest among motorists and automakers and is expected to go into mass production in 2008.

In the active mode, Park Mate uses ultrasound sensors mounted on the side of the vehicle to monitor the left and right sides of the street when the vehicle is traveling at less than 35 kilometers per hour. The driver is then instructed to stop the vehicle when the system has identified a parking space of sufficient size. Park Mate utilizes a feature of Siemens navigation systems known as eHorizon (electronic horizon) to determine whether it has identified a parking space, rather than an intersection or side street.

Once the parking process has begun, the system tells the driver via a display screen and voice output whether to put the car in reverse or drive. It then conducts all steering maneuvers automatically. The ultrasound sensors mounted on the front and rear bumpers determine the distance to other vehicles and objects; the driver therefore only needs to operate the gas and brake pedals. An acoustic signal warns drivers if the vehicle gets too close to other objects. If the street in question has no sidewalk, Park Mate parks the car in accordance with the position of other parked vehicles. Park Mate is not only faster than the average driver; it can make optimum use of even small parking spaces by means of several forward and backward movements, and it safely steers cars into a parked position.

Park Mate is just one element of pro.pilot – a network of driver assistance systems that Siemens is currently preparing for mass production. Additional systems include a head-up-display night vision device, a lane-changing assistant, and an automated driving system for stop-and-go traffic. Human-machine interfaces are very important in the development of such systems, as their acceptance by drivers ultimately depends on how easily they can be operated. (IN 2006.02.1)