Photo: Michael S Kaswatuka | Facebook
Wheel clamping is so yesterday. The Chinese have come up with a new solution to get rid of the cars parked illegally that cause trouble to other drivers. They use valet robots. It is a simple technology that police officers have been trained to control.
Clamping the wheels of a car that affects traffic does not help other motorists at all. They still won't have enough space to drive in the area. The driver does get a fine and will probably think twice next time they consider parking their cars on a corner or inches away from a pedestrian crossing. But it does not help anyone else at that particular moment.
To relieve a congested area, police usually resort to towing away the illegally parked cars. But the procedure is time consuming, causes chaos in the area, and is costly. Simply relocating the car to some car park nearby and notifying the driver that their vehicle has been moved seems like a better solution. Furthermore, the driver is still fined for illegal parking and has to pay the fee for the parking lot where their cars are taken.
The Chinese authorities consider this move not as a punishment for wrong parking but as assistance offered to the drivers with the help of the valet robot.
The procedure is simple and is detailed in a video. The police officer identifies a car that is illegally parked and deployed the valet robot. It is a platform on wheels, using a hydraulic jack system that goes under the car in question, expands, grips the wheels, lifts the car from the ground, and simply moves it away, guided by the officer with minimum human interference.
The platform allows having the vehicle towed forward, backward, sideways, and even rotate 360 degrees if necessary. Chinese officers have been using the valet robots with wheel grippers for the past few months within a trial and seem to find it useful. A video uploaded on Facebook shows exactly how the system works.
And China is not the only country that resorted to such car relocation procedures. Similar systems operate at the Charles du Gaulle Airport near Paris.
People who have watched the video are not enthusiastic about the technology. “Wait until thieves get their hands on it! You’ll see your own car driving away and won’t even understand what’s going on,” someone warns on Facebook.
Another user points out that China is lightyears away in terms of technology compared to the US. And from Africa, too, apparently. "In Africa, they remove your car for free. For good!" writes someone residing in Johannesburg.
Before the technology is implemented worldwide, if ever, we will have to deal with wheel clamping, cars getting towed away and/or fines. Or we could just park in proper parking spots.
To relieve a congested area, police usually resort to towing away the illegally parked cars. But the procedure is time consuming, causes chaos in the area, and is costly. Simply relocating the car to some car park nearby and notifying the driver that their vehicle has been moved seems like a better solution. Furthermore, the driver is still fined for illegal parking and has to pay the fee for the parking lot where their cars are taken.
The Chinese authorities consider this move not as a punishment for wrong parking but as assistance offered to the drivers with the help of the valet robot.
The procedure is simple and is detailed in a video. The police officer identifies a car that is illegally parked and deployed the valet robot. It is a platform on wheels, using a hydraulic jack system that goes under the car in question, expands, grips the wheels, lifts the car from the ground, and simply moves it away, guided by the officer with minimum human interference.
The platform allows having the vehicle towed forward, backward, sideways, and even rotate 360 degrees if necessary. Chinese officers have been using the valet robots with wheel grippers for the past few months within a trial and seem to find it useful. A video uploaded on Facebook shows exactly how the system works.
And China is not the only country that resorted to such car relocation procedures. Similar systems operate at the Charles du Gaulle Airport near Paris.
People who have watched the video are not enthusiastic about the technology. “Wait until thieves get their hands on it! You’ll see your own car driving away and won’t even understand what’s going on,” someone warns on Facebook.
Another user points out that China is lightyears away in terms of technology compared to the US. And from Africa, too, apparently. "In Africa, they remove your car for free. For good!" writes someone residing in Johannesburg.
Before the technology is implemented worldwide, if ever, we will have to deal with wheel clamping, cars getting towed away and/or fines. Or we could just park in proper parking spots.
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