A driverless parking system in the parking lot of the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart has been operational since 2019. For this, the German brand, in cooperation with Bosch, uses development vehicles without human supervision in the daily operations of the parking lot.
Now, the special permit for operating a driverless parking system has been extended, allowing commercial operation with private vehicles in the P6 car park at Stuttgart Airport.
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The basis for the approval is a law that came into force in Germany in July 2021, which allows driverless driving in accordance with SAE level 4 for motor vehicles – implemented in close coordination with the German Federal Ministry for Digital Affairs and transport (BMDV) and the KBA.
Mercedes-Benz and Bosch plan to roll out the driverless parking service in the APCOA P6 car park at Stuttgart Airport. Certain Mercedes S-Class and EQS models built since July 2022 that have an active Intelligent Park Pilot2 service (as part of Mercedes me connect) can benefit from this service.
All they have to do is book the parking space in advance via the Mercedes me app and drive to the predetermined drop-off point. The system will then check whether the route to the parking space is free and whether all other technical requirements have been met. Once they do, the car owner can then leave the car behind.
The vehicle must be able to drive to the parking spot through the use of various Bosch sensors installed in the area. These sensors communicate directly with the vehicle, enabling fully automated maneuvering through the parking space.
Similarly, if drivers wish to collect their vehicle from the parking space, they can do so through the app. Once requested, the vehicle will drive to a pre-determined pick-up point.
