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As the video proves beyond the shadow of a doubt, parallel parking is a cinch. For those who nonetheless feel challenged by the maneuver, and view it as scarier than crossing the 38th parallel, Ford has a cure: Ford plans to offer two Lincoln models in 2009 that can park themselves, Marketwatch reports. Parallel parking will get as boring as pushing a button. The miracles will be on display at the Detroit Auto Show. The parallel parking robot will be an option on the Lincoln MKS sedan and MKT CUV for the 2009 model year. For the TTAC B&B, this news is a yawner, as automatic parallel parking attendants were introduced by Toyota in their Prius as far back as 2004, followed by Lexus, BMW, the VW Touran, and possibly others.
18 Comments on “Ford To Take Fun Out Of Parallel Parking...”
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Well now that there is a self parking feature on some Lincoln models and more Ford models with backup cameras, I will definately be looking anew at the Focus, Mustang, and MKT SUV. Those options are exactly what I have been looking for from Ford . (…smirk..)
If this is anything like the Lexus system, it’s ludicrous. I’ve tried it, and the Lexus requires a huge space–in Manhattan it would be considered room for two compact cars–and takes about 30 seconds of touch-screening to set up. And again in Manhattan, somebody would already have taken your space from behind.
If you can’t parallel park a car you shouldn’t be allowed to drive one. What else can’t you do yourself? Steer around a corner? Hit the brakes hard? See over the dashboard?
Damn lazy worthless human race!
Let us not forget the most intuitive parallel parking technique – as demonstrated by the Blues Brothers – sliding sideways into the valet spot in front of the restaurant.
The things we take for granted…
I suffered a temporary loss of vision in one eye, and as a result, it left me without any depth perception. Parallel parking went from being a one-two cinch to a real chore because I couldn’t tell how far from the curb or cars I was until I felt the gentle thump of tapping somebody else’s bumper.
In my lazy worthlessness, I would’ve loved to have a system like this (provided it worked effectively).
Really!?
I’m going to try parking with a patch on. Glad your vision came back.
If this saves me from getting those licence plate bolt holes in my bumper while parked, it’s worth it. I mean, if you can’t walk, you get a wheelchair, if you can’t hear, you get a hearing aid, and if you can’t parallel park, you get a bot to do it for you. Just a natural progression of throwing the theory of evolution out the door. Darwin would be proud :)
More technology to make already-incompetent drivers more clueless. Perfect! I wonder if this will be offered in the “Navigation” package; might as well throw radar-assisted cruise control in there, too. Hell, why not just call it the “Ineptitude” package?
On top of this, I heard a couple months ago that Ford invented a device that uses the temperature difference in the exhaust to power a turbine which creates a vacuum which alows more air to be pushed into the engine. They call it Eco-Boost and it will change everything!
Here’s a contemporay question. Has Ford solved the problem of parallel parking into a snow bank, after roads have been ploughed, but not cleared?
Happens every winters’ day from Fargo to Chicago and points East. Or maybe Lincoln type people still have enough money left to live in Florida and Arizona in the winter?
I had an older neighbor who bought a brand new MKS a few years back. Within a couple months his fenders had almost no paint left on them and were hanging off. He also rear-ended someone one day as I saw it totally crumpled in the front. The next week it was fixed. The next month paint was gone from the front bumper again. A couple months later, hey, a brand new MKS. Guess he traded the old one in. I moved before I saw what happened to the new one. I’m guessing he will benefit from this feature and so will anyone he parks between.
The things we take for granted…
I suffered a temporary loss of vision in one eye, and as a result, it left me without any depth perception. Parallel parking went from being a one-two cinch to a real chore because I couldn’t tell how far from the curb or cars I was until I felt the gentle thump of tapping somebody else’s bumper.
The things we consider acceptable. No depth perception, incapable of the simple task of parking, and yet still safe to be driving a huge mass of metal at high speeds in the presence of others?
But really, I’m not saying you were actually a danger to others. It sounds like you were still capable of parking, and would probably have gotten used to it over time. If you drive safely, the situations requiring the depth perception that predators need two forward-facing eyes for will only be the result of someone else’s negligence on the road. But there are a lot of drivers out there who are incapable of handling a vehicle and shouldn’t have a “right” to be on the road. If you truly can’t park a vehicle, you’re probably in that category!
If you lose your stereoscopic depth perception, you will eventually get better at judging distance based on other visual cues such as size and shadows. My mom has been driving this way for half of her life, and her only accidents were someone hitting her at a light from behind, and her sliding on ice into a car the same way she got hit. Ice is realy dangerous in Houston, no one here has a clue what to do.
I think this is a problem of management.
Any auto executive should recognize that when you turn a car into a four-wheeled ‘lay-z-boy’, then you undermind any coolness, any sexiness the car may have had.
Market research of course will tell you that people like a car that is easy to park, and that automatic parallel parking is a great nice-to-have. That’s the problem when market research is king: it turns coherent products into odds-and-ends boxes.
…might as well throw radar-assisted cruise control in there, too.
They already have. It’s called adaptive cruise control. Although I like rear view cameras (discussed in another thread), I refuse to cede control of speed, acceleration and braking to a simple minded computer.
Score: jg 2, quasimondo 1.
I, too, am very glad your vision returned, if indeed it did. About 15 years ago, infection from ear tube installation (dumbest thing I have ever done) almost stole my hearing, but it since has returned (without any tubes!). I know the feeling.
I’ve been thinking, and I’m giving quasimondo a 2-point conversion, making the score quasimondo 3, jg 2.
And lest we forget Ace Ventura…”Like a Glove!”
rpn453, consider this: A paraplegic driver is able to operate a vehicle with the assistance of hand controls that manipulate the accelerator and brake pedals. Because of this simple technology they are able to operate a car on the same skill level as somebody who has full use of their legs. Why should the use of an automated parallel parking system be viewed any different for a driver who’s lost his depth perception because they have one eye?
The easy answer to this issue of course would be ‘Mass Transit, stay off the roads,’ but in many cities, it is still an inadequate and subpar system to the point that it is unacceptable. Complicating matters is that massive upgrades is nobody is ever willing to foot the bill for (witness the uproar over additional taxes and tolls to shore up New York City’s MTA budget). In all honesty, I’d love to turn my car into a recreational toy instead of a commuting appliance and use a bus or train to get everywhere I need to, but if I have to choose between a technology is readily available to make cars easier to operate safely versus wholesale changes in mass mobility that may not ever occur in our lifetimes (see: 2nd Ave Subway), I think I’ll go with the technology we have today.
I’ve also noticed that most unsafe driving comes from a lack of situational awareness. Drivers who have two eyes, two ears, and a good pair of hands and feet driving quite dangerously because they’re not paying attention to the road. Talking on a cell phone (even the hands-free ones), fatigue, trying to keep that burger from falling into their lap, or whatever the causes are turns them into a highway hazard because they’re not focused on piloting their huge masses of metal at high speeds. In the presence of such danger surrounding me, I refuse to be singled out as the dangerous one on the road.