Cars – Page 56 – DRIVING LIFE

An advanced parking guidance system is commonly known as an Intelligent parking assist system. An intelligent parking assist system was used in the Lexus models of the US. It is the automated system for parking that is developed by the Toyota Motor Corporation in the year 1999. It was initially used in Lexus Models and Hybrid Prius for the Japanese market. This technology provides assistance to the drivers to park their vehicles efficiently without causing any damage. Intelligent Parking Assist System – The History Photo Credit: http://www.aliexpress.com/item/intelligent-parking-assist-system/531833766.html The vehicles that are equipped with an intelligent parking assist system have a touch screen on their dashboard with button controls. With the help of an intelligent parking assist system, the car can drive automatically to get parked in the available space with just minimal precision from the driver's side. The first type of intelligent parking assist system was included in the Hybrid model of Prius that was meant for the Japanese market in 2003. The second new version of the intelligent parking assist system comes into the limelight in Japan. It was featured in a luxury edition of Lexus LS. It featured this advanced parking technology with other various new inventions by Toyota. The versions that we see today in our cars rolled out in 2009 were included in the Prius Model made for the United States. This technology is renowned in Europe and Asia as an intelligent parking assist system in Lexus and Toyota models. In the US, it is known as the “Advanced parking guidance system” and is included in the Lexus models only. Development of the Intelligent Parking Assist system or Advanced parking guidance system Initially, this intelligent parking assist system was developed to park cars in reverse or parallel parking. In the initial stages, this system doesn’t require driver intervention as it estimates the size available for parking and thus parking the vehicle appropriately and smartly. This became possible because of a computer system installed inside the car that estimated the space using cameras that were present on the front and rear sides of the cameras. A sensor that was placed nearby the cameras counts the proximity of other close vehicles around and provides the system with exact space. The screen installed on the dashboard shows the details of the available space, and then the driver has to mark the exact position of the car using the arrows available on the touch screen. With the help of the arrow keys, the driver decides the exact location to park the vehicle and initiates the command using the button available on the screen. After that, the computer takes over the steering and parks the vehicle smartly in the driver's allocated space. The early version of this intelligent parking system had a lot of glitches. The system faced difficulty in detecting the objects like cats, babies, or pedestrians. The other glitch was that if this system was used in a smaller space parking, the screens would keep on flashing the warning signals constantly, stating that the car could hit other parked cars. In such circumstances, the driver's assistance was required by the computer. Late on, an upgraded intelligent parking assistance system came to light in 2005, which included the recognition capability of parking stripes. With the passing years, technology has evolved further, and now the intelligent parking assistance system has parking sensors. This version can calculate the exact details of parking the vehicle parallel or in reverse. It also helps the driver to determine the space in that particular parking lot by displaying colored strips on the screen which give the indication of obstacles and proximity around. How Does the Intelligent Parking Assistance System Work? Photo Credit: http://www.bmw.com/com/en/insights/technology/connecteddrive/2013/driver_assistance/intelligent_parking.html The technology used in building an Intelligent parking assistance system includes: The intelligent parking assist system or advanced parking guidance system uses computer processors. These computer processors are attached to the vehicle warning system known as SONAR system, the backup cameras, and sensors. These Sonar sensors for parking include various sensors that are fixed on the front and back bumpers. These sensors are attached to detect obstacles and raise a warning when an obstacle is detected nearby. These also help the computer steer the vehicle at the perfect angles required to park the vehicle. These sensors are further attached to two other sensors that work with the central processing chip, which again is attached to backup imaging systems that display the information about parking to the driver. The sonar sensors used in the intelligent parking assistance system help the computer for calculating the parking angle data that can be seen on the touch screen on the dashboard along with the obstacles nearby. The IPAS gets activated when we put our car to reverse mode. The sensors and cameras that are present on the rear side themselves get activated automatically. In reverse mode, the driver can use the auto parking buttons present on the screen to park the vehicle automatically. When the automatic parking assistance system gets activated, the computer processor starts calculating the angles of operations to parking the car in a reverse position or parallel and then integrates with the steering system of the car thus enabling it to park efficiently by itself. Intelligent Parking Assist Systems – The Functions Photo Credit: http://electronicdesign.com/components/new-technologies-make-roads-safer-one-smart-car-time More up-to-date variants of the intelligent parking assistance system permit the car for reverse or parallel parking. When the drivers are parking parallel with the help of the system, the driver first needs to pull the car near the parking stripes. Then, the car moves forward until its back bumper crosses the back wheels of the vehicle that is parked in the open parking lot. When you put the vehicle in reverse, it will activate the intelligent parking assistance system. With the help of a camera, the driver can look at the rearview display console on the dashboard. On the display, the screen driver can see the grid, usually marked with green, yellow, and red lines that tell the proximity of the other obstacles. Although everything is automatic, the driver still needs to check if the proximity box on the touch screen is displayed properly according to the parking. If there is a lot of parking space available, then the box will appear green in color. If the box is incorrectly placed, then it will show a red color. The driver needs to place the box correctly to turn the box green. Once everything seems to be perfect and the space for parking is identified, the driver can press the ok button and take their hands off the controlling wheel. Once the driver removes their feet from the brakes, the car starts to accelerate and will park the vehicle in the parking space. Conclusion The automatic parking assistance system works completely when you are parking your car. It works with precision through the computer system. Most of the time, when we are parking the car on our own, we neglect many obstacles that come our way. But with the help of an intelligent parking assistance system, these obstacles can be easily marked within the sensors. Now, there is no need to worry about your parking tensions as this new advanced technology will be there to help you park very easily and conveniently. We hope that with the help of this blog, you will be able to understand the parking assistance system in an efficient manner.