Driverless Parking and Charging
Bosch has been equipping parking garages for driverless parking for some time now. Automatic charging of electric cars is now to be added.
Finding a parking space can be exhausting and time-consuming. Especially in confusing parking garages. If you also need to find a free charging point, quite a few drivers reach their limits. Automated valet charging is now set to provide a remedy.
Based on this infrastructure solution, the supplier group Bosch is working with the Volkswagen subsidiary Cariad to test how electric vehicles can be guided to a free parking space with a charging facility without a driver and charged automatically by a charging robot. Once the charging process is complete, the vehicle is also maneuvered driverlessly to a parking space without a charging station.
Bosch and Cariad are now testing the technology required for this in two in-house test parking garages. The infrastructure guides the vehicle to the parking space without a driver (image), where a robot opens the charging flap, automatically plugs in the charging cable and unplugs it again as soon as the vehicle battery is fully charged.
Utilizing capacities
The car then drives back to a parking space without a charging option and makes room for the next e-vehicle with a low battery. This makes it possible to charge and park several vehicles without human interaction. The aim is to increase the utilization of charging stations and reduce potential waiting times.
According to Bosch, Automated Valet Parking is the world’s first driverless parking service to be certified to SAE Level 4 and has been in end-customer operation in the P6 parking garage at Stuttgart Airport for around a year. Bosch has already begun equipping other parking garages throughout Germany with the infrastructure technology.
