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BMW Will Bring a Fully-Automated Parking i3 at 2015 CES, Previewing 2016 7 Series Functionality

Just Saturday we were telling you that BMW plans to introduce a new automated parking feature on the upcoming G11 7 Series. According to our sources, the car will be parking itself without a driver inside just by using the key fob. Well, BMW all but confirmed what we told you today, with a press release about the technology they will be bringing to the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show.
BMW Remote Valet Parking Assistant 11 photos
Photo: BMW
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The Las Vegas venue will be the place where we’ll get to watch the Bavarians’ first car that can not only park itself but also drive itself and locate a parking spot, all on its own. That’s right, on its own!

According to BMW, this is possible because of four advanced laser scanners that record the surrounding environment and create a virtual schematic of the building or parking lot where you’re located. They will also recognize columns and other objects around the car and they will brake if the driver gets distracted at any time.

Fully automated parking in multi-story car parks

Called Remote Valet Parking Assistant, BMW’s new take on parking is absolutely mesmerizing. Put to the test for the first time inside an i3, the research done by the engineers will prove that the car can actually look for a parking spot and eventually park itself with no input from the driver.

Activating the function can be done using a smartwatch in this case but we’re guessing that on the 7 Series that feature will be accessed from the key fob. Furthermore, the car will avoid any object it encounters around the parking lot while driving to and from the spot. Oh, didn’t we mention this already? It will also come back to you if you call it. Think of it as a mechanic equivalent of Silver, the Lone Ranger’s horse.

At the push of a button on the smartwatch, the car will be getting back to the place where you left it and pick you up. Therefore, when you exit a meeting room you can already have the car driving to meet you on the way. It all sounds absolutely brilliant but we’ll take it all with a grain of salt. We want to see it work first.

In order to achieve this feat, engineers had to rely on alternative means of guiding the car that don’t imply using a GPS signal. In order to do so they went for a system that uses the aforementioned lasers and a processing unit that interprets the recorded data and creates a virtual map of the surroundings.
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