Mercedes Benz: Autonomous parking approved by KBA

Mercedes Benz has passed a milestone on the road to fully autonomous driving cars. The tradition-steeped automaker from Stuttgart, Germany, has now received approval from the German Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) for its fully autonomous parking assistant. This could put an end to the experience-based stressful search for a parking space in a parking garage with its omnipresent risk of scratches. Whether the new technology will already be used in the recently presented Mercedes EQE SUV?

A first in autonomous driving

Apparently automatic parking cars have been around for years. For example, many models now offer the option of locating suitable parking spaces and then taking over the steering. However, the driver is still required to operate the accelerator and brake. Consequently, this does not really have much in common with autonomous driving. Mercedes now wants to go one step further. The carmaker has obtained the necessary green light from the KBA. The new technology is known as Automated Valet Parking (AVP).

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The idea behind this is that a driver is no longer needed when parking in a parking garage. Instead, the car takes over the process by itself. In the development of the system, the KBA has assisted Mercedes Benz. It is therefore not surprising that the authority is now very pleased with “another building block on the road to autonomous driving.” When it comes to safety in particular, the KBA is said to have always kept an eye on the development progress of the Stuttgart company.

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Is autonomous driving soon to be a reality?

One major hurdle that autonomous driving systems still have to overcome is legal compliance. Here, one must observe the Road Traffic Act (StVG) and, in particular, the Autonomous Vehicles Approval and Operation Ordinance (AFGBV). Thanks to the cooperation with the KBA, Mercedes Benz was always able to obtain feedback during the development phase, which is why there are now no legal limits that speak against a rollout. In practice, the whole thing should then be child’s play.

If you put your vehicle into autonomous driving mode, you should only have to park it at a specified location in the parking garage. It then drives autonomously to its parking space, which has also been previously specified. When the car is picked up, it will also drive itself out of the parking space to the drop-off point. The prerequisite is that the parking garage in question has an AVP structure that supports the new system.