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Ford Developing Remote Control Parking System: Take That BMW and Mercedes!

Remote control parking systems are some of the newer features all automakers are looking into. We're not 100% sure about this, but the W213 Mercedes E-Class and G11 BMW 7 Series will be the first production models to offer this feature. But what if we told you Ford is also developing such a device and might have it ready within a couple of years?
Ford Developing Remote Control Parking System 3 photos
Photo: Ford
Ford Developing Remote Control Parking System
The idea is brilliantly simple: you get out of the car before it's parked and that way you avoid embarrassing exits through the trunk or expensive paint damage.

Frankly, we're not surprised that Ford is looking into remote parking since the company actively promoted its fully automated parking aids through daredevil stunts on rooftops and moving platforms.

But it's only been a few months since we saw the system being demonstrated on a Mercedes prototype wearing full camouflage. With the way things are going, the next Focus could be nearly as technologically advanced as a German luxury sedan.

Just like with other tech features, there is an upside and a downside. Being on the outside of the vehicle gives you a much better view of the hazards so that you can park in tighter spots. In addition, it gives you a solution for all those situations where you arrive at your vehicle and find it has been boxed in.

The first major downside is that this potentially expensive piece of tech is only useful in really tight parking lots. That, and it can be used maliciously to block someone with your car. Awesome possum!

Predictably for such a cutting edge technology, details are lacking. But there's a little bit of fine print at the bottom of the press release that says you will need a special remote control key (you can see it in one of the photos) and the system only works with PowerShift automatic transmissions. It figures!

Ford looked at the same data that Mercedes and BMW released a few months ago. It says that while vehicle sizes have increased by up to 25 percent over the last 40 years, in many cases garages and parking spaces have remained constant. However, unlike luxury sedan owners, people who buy Fords generally don't have a personal garage. Could this be linked in some way to the Ford Vignale program?

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About the author: Mihnea Radu
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Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida.
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