Hyundai is launching a pilot program for their parking robots.
You drop your vehicle off and the robot takes it to a parking spot.
Can park vehicles close together, increasing capacity by 20-50%.
Parking garages are typically tight and crowded, but Hyundai thinks they have the solution in the form of parking robots. They’re expected to reduce accidents and increase parking garage capacity by 20-50%.
As part of an effort to showcase their potential, a consortium of Hyundai companies – including Hyundai Motor, Hyundai Wia, and Hyundai E&C – will conduct a pilot project at an apartment complex in Siheung, which is southwest of Seoul.
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The program will see the complex outfitted with two sets of Hyundai WIA parking robots. They’ll oversee 53 spaces in an underground parking garage and they aim to deliver significant benefits.
Key to this are small robots that are just 4.3 inches (110 mm) thick. As Hyundai explained, they drive under the vehicle, lift the wheels, and then move the entire car. The robots are equipped with a LiDAR sensor and are capable of automatically parking vehicles that weigh up to 7,496 lbs (3,400 kg).
While they have a leisurely top speed of 2.7 mph (4.3 km/h), the driver simply exits their vehicle at a designated drop-off point and lets the robots take it away. When it’s time to drive, owners use a kiosk to tell the robots to fetch their vehicle.
Since you don’t have to worry about opening doors, vehicles can be parked closely together. Furthermore, the robots can move in “all directions” and this allows them to get into narrow spots.
This sounds like a win-win as drivers don’t have to waste time hunting for a parking spot, while garage owners can maximize available parking space. There are also environmental and pedestrian safety benefits.
Hyundai expects to learn a lot through the pilot program as they’re interested in “average waiting times, throughput, and utilization rates” as well as the effects of improved traffic flow and space utilization. They’re also looking to come up with a way of “calculating the optimal number of parking spaces and robots for each building.”
